
Class F^iojA 

Book__.M3-HlX. 
Copyright }|° 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



Report of the Celebration of 
the Centennial of the Incor- 
poration of the Town 
of Marlborough 



f^/% 



August 23^^ and 25' f' 1903 



Compiled dud Piihlislwd by 

Mary Hall 



Hartford Press 

Thr (\isi-. loikuiKul & Hrainard Company 
I »04 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two Copies Received 

JUN 28 1904 

Copyrlrht Entry 

CLASS OLy XXo. Na 

S ^ I / ^ 
COPY B 






Copyright, 1904, 
By Mary Hall. 



nEDICATKD TO MY FATHER 

(^iiUilalTiui tcra ffiall 

WHOSE LIFELONC. INTEREST IN MARLBOROUGH 

INSPIRED MIS DAtCWlTER TO 

STUDY ITS HISTORY 



The compiler of this volume is greatly indebted to all per- 
sons who havi- assisted in gatluritip so much valuahle material 
of historical interest for the Marlborough Centennial, especially 
to Mr. F. C. Bissell for his faithful study of the town bounda- 
ries and the preparation of the map showing the evolution of 
the town from the three towns of Hebron, Colchester, and 
Glastonbury. Thanks are also due to Miss Frances Ellen 
Burr for services as stenographer, to Mr. George S. Godard. 
State Librarian, for helpfulness at the State Library, and to 
Hon. John Bigelow and Hon. William H. Richmond for finan- 
cial assistance in publishing this Report. 

The ancient map of Hebron has been inserted to supply 
what was lacking in the ancient map of Marlborough. 




CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.- CENTENNIAL DAY. 



MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL 



The first nicctinj^ of the citizens of the town of Marlbor- 
ough was called at the residence of Miss Mary Hall on the 
evening of August 25. 1902, to discuss the celebration of the 
centennial of the incorporation of the town in August, 1903. 

Rev. George P. Fuller was chosen chairtnan and Thcron 
B. lUiell secretary. 

It was voted to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of 
the incorporation of the town in August, 1903. 

It was voted that an executive committee of fen be ap- 
pointed by the chair. 

The following committee was aj)j)ointed : 

George W. Buell, David Rucll, 

Frank H. Blish, William \V. Bolles, 

Roland Bnell. Willis W. Hall. 

Charles Carter, John H. Fuller, 

("ii.ri,.^ \ ("l.irk, (icorRe Lyman. 



It was also voted that Honorable William H. Richmond of 
Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Honorable John Bigelow of New 
York city be invited to preside at the historical services, and 
that .Mr. Hart Talcott Ik* invited to act as one of the vice-presi- 
dents. 

At a meeting called for July 6, 1903, the following hospi- 
tality committee of five ladies and five gentlemen was chosen : 

George Lyman, Mrs. George Lyman, 

George Bud I, Mrs. George Buell. 

Roland Bucll, Mrs. Mattie B. Lord, 

John Lord. Mrs. John W. Day, 

Roger B. Lord, Mrs. Roger B. Lord. 



MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 



Committee on decorations 

Robert T. Buell, 
Leon Buell, 
John H. Fuller, 
Frank Myers, 
Wm. F. Joyner, 



Mrs. F. H. Blish, 

Miss Helen Buell, 

Miss Fannie Carter, 

Miss Hattie Buell, 

Miss Effie Buell. 



Committee to collect antiques and arrange an exhibit ; 



Mrs. Clayton Bolles, 
Mrs. Frank H. Blish, 



Clayton Bolles. 



Miss Edna Buell, 
Charles E. Carter, 



Committee on music 
Miss Edna Buell, 



Mrs. Clayton Bolles. 



Committee to confer with selectmen for the purpose of se- 
curing fimds for expenses in addition to private subscriptions ; 



John Lord, 



George Lyman, 



William W. Bolles 



Committee for picnic 

John Coleman, 
Paul Roberts, 



C. E. Carter, 
W. W. Bolles, 



B. Lyman. 



Treasurer, George W. Buell. 



TREASURER'S REPORT. 



Contributed by citizens, . 
Contributed by town. 
Received for dinner tickets. 



Paid caterer. 

Paid for dinner tickets, 



$63.50 
71-75 
67.25 

$202.50 

$200.00 

2.50 

$202.50 



I'KCM.K \M. 9 

1 he lollou iiii; proprani \\:i.s dtcuk<l iiit<>n l»y tin- town coiti- 
iiiitti-i- : 

IJrogram. 

^tiitbat.i, .4iioii«t 2:iCi. 

I Ii->iorical sermon 
My Rev. Joel S. Ives 

Curtbaii, ?liiou9t 2jtl). 

Hull. J->lni r.iKcluw "t New 'iiTk. 
I'n-sidinn oflicer. 

11 a. m. I'raycr by Rev. Sanuiel Hart. D.I) 

Historical acltlress, by Miss Mary Hall. Harlfonl. 
Military history of the town, by Mr. John H. Fuller of 

MarllK>roitnli 
Town bouiidaric-;. by Mr. 1". Clarence Bissell of Hart- 

fonl. 
I\riiiiiiiM»iu-(.N. I)\ Mr. Hart Talcolt. Hnrtforil 

1 p. m. 1 )IM' r; 

2 p. m. ildii. Win. II. Uiclinioiul, Scranlon, rcnn.sylvania, 

prcsi<loiil. 
Paper on Tlic Skiiniers. Lords, and Hinelows. early 

settlers of the town, by Mr. David Skinner Bigelow 
Address and grectinns from the Connecticut Historical 

Society, by its president. Rev. Samuel Hart, D.D. 
Introduction of Hon. John Bigelow. by Mr. Richmond 
Address by Hon. John Bigelow. 
Address by Hon. Win. H. Richmond. 

i Ik- ciKl (ration i»i tlu- otu- lmii<lrt.'(lth amiivc-r.^ary of the 
iiicor|)oratioii of the town of Marlhoroutjh was luj^im Suiulay 
niorniiiij. Aiij^ist 23(1. witli sirvicts in the Coiijijrcpatioiial 
Chtiroh. 

The followinjT is a faithful notice of the Sunday proceed- 
ings as |>rinte»l hy the Hartford Coiirant Augfiist 24th : 

MarllKtrough. the smallest town in the state, began yesterday cen- 
tennial exercises, which will continue tomorrow with marked enthusi- 
asm. One sees evidences of the celebration as soon as Marlborough 
Mills is reached, going over from Glastonbury, for flags are flying from 
rcsidrnces. a largo llag floats from a new flagpole in front of the Metho- 
dist Church, and another from a pole in front of Miss Mary Hall's 
summer home, opp«-»site that church. 

rile exorcises yesterday were of a religious character and were held 
in the C<Mii:r» cntional Gnirch, which was handsomely decorated through 



lO MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

the courtesy of the Cheney Brothers of South Manchester, who not 
only donated the flags and bunting, but sent over men to do the deco- 
rating. Over the entrance to the modest church edifice, a characteristic 
New England country church, was hung a United States flag, and the 
interior walls were draped with flags and colored bunting, hung between 
the windows or festooned along the top. Back of the platform hung 
a large flag, and on either side " 1803," " 1903," and above it. suspended 
from the ceiling, was a large stuffed eagle, holding in his claws the 
shield of the United States, flanked by flags. Looking down from the 
organ on the right of the platform, standing on each front corner, were 
two large stuffed owls with heads turned in a 'cute way, as though look- 
ing wise at what was going on. 

In front of the pulpit were crossed flags, and the communion table 
was decorated with potted flowers and cut flowers in vases. The in- 
terior of the church presented an attractive, patriotic appearance. The 
large audience completely filled the edifice and many stood during the 
services, which began soon after eleven o'clock and lasted for about two 
hours. Rev. George P. Fuller, the pastor of the church, presided, and 
was assisted by Rev. R. J. Kyle, pastor of the Congregational churches 
at Gilead and Hebron, both of which suspended services yesterday in 
order that their congregations might participate in the Marlborough, 
exercises. 

The singing was by a mixed choir of nine voices, led by Mrs. W. O. 
Seyms, the organist. The singers were : sopranos, Mrs. H. A. Spafard, 
Mrs. C. J. Douglas of Boston, Mrs. F. W. Little, Mrs. E. H. Tucker, 
Mrs. R. F. Porter; alto, Mrs. G. F. Mitchell; tenor, J. L. Nott ; bassos, 
R. F. Porter, W. O. Seyms. They sang the anthems, " Blessed is He," 
and " Remember Thy Tender Mercies," and Mrs. Mitchell sang " Nearer 
Home." The organ prelude was " Processional March in F," by Bar- 
nard, the offertory was " Resignation," by Ashford, and the postlude 
was " Ceremonial March," by Maxfield. The Congregational hymns 
" All Hail the Power of Jesus's Name " and " When I Can Read My 
Title Clear to Mansions in the Skies " were sung by choir and congrega- 
tion. The invocation was by Rev. R. J. Kyle of Gilead. Rev. Joel S. 
Ives of this city read the scripture lesson, prayer was offered by Rev. 
George P. Fuller, and the responsive reading was led by the pastor,, 
the selections being Psalms 122-124. The benediction was pronounced 
by Rev. J. S. Ives. 




REV. JOEL IVES. 



HISTORICAL SERMON. 

r.v l\i:\. I<»i.L S. Iviis. 



A few weeks since. I cliamed t«> speak of this service at 
MarllHirouph in my office in Hartford in the |)resence of Rev. 
Dr. Chesehronph. who has just celel)rate(l his ninetieth hirth- 
(lay. and he at ojice remarked, " Ihat is the place where the 
minister i)reached hehind the bar in the hotel." We are met 
under far more enconraijjinir circumstances today. 

^'ou will find my text in the prophecy of Hac^ii^ai. the first 
chapter, the 7th an<l Sth verses: 

lliiis saitli ilic Lord uf hosts: Consider your ways; go up into 
the mountains, and hring wood, and build the house; and I will take 
pleasure in it, and 1 will be glorified, saith the Lord." 

There is a jiecidiar interest in this text from the prophecy 
of Hatjj^ai. where the Lord calls u|)on the people to go up into 
the moimtain and bring the wtKxl of which they were to build 
the h«)usc. for it is reported that Mr. Mason, the first pastor of 
this church, was ordained while the i)eople sat upon the tim- 
bers which they ha<l drawn from the moimtain to build the 
house. This was in May. I74<;. Taking the text in its general 
application, we may rejoice that the people gathered the timbers 
and built the house. an«l that we have (lod's protnise inr it that 
Me will take pleasure in it and be glorified. 

The Connecticut town and the Connecticut church in tin ir 
iK'ginnings were coincident. The history of the one is the his- 
tory of the other. The old towns like Iljrtfonl. Wethersfield, 
and Windsor, and the towns along the Sound. Xew Haven, 
Milford. and Stratfor«l. were each Ugim as a religious ent<T- 
prisc. In many cases the pastor gathered around him his flocks 
as a starting point f<^r a settlement. The organization of the 
Stamford church was made in the old country an<l brought in- 
tact to its present dwelling place. 

LcfC 



12 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

In the later history of the towns the same thing is true. 
For example, in old Stratford, at the close of its first pastorate, 
a second church was organized because of some difference of 
opinion, and later moved to the beautiful Pomperaug A'alley. 
and was the beginning of Woodbury and the towns that have 
been formed in that neighborhood, Washington, Bethlehem, 
Roxbury, for example. For a long period of years, therefore, 
the origin of the town and the origin of the church were practi- 
cally identical. It is fair to affirm that the foundations of our 
state are religious foundations. Civil affairs were closely allied 
to matters of religion. The General Court authorized the Say- 
brook convention of 1708-9, out of which grew the Saybrook 
platform. Connecticut has exerted an influence upon the na- 
tion and the world, because of these religious characteristics 
and because of the character of her people, far beyond what 
would naturally be expected from her size or numbers. A 
Frenchman who had heard so much of Connecticut and the 
place it had taken in the affairs of the world was interested 
to find it upon the map, and when it was pointed out ex- 
claimed, " What, that leetle yellow spot ! " In size and num- 
bers we are small, but with reference to the influence exerted 
by the commonwealth we can take great pride. 

There have been marked changes in the population of the 
state. For many years we were made up of country towns. 
As late as 1830 New Haven's population was 10,000 and Hart- 
ford's 9,000. A man still living told me that he had hunted for 
partridges on the hill where the capitol now stands. Otu" 
fathers sought out their houses upon the hilltops. There was 
a passion to acquire large territory. The towns, organized in 
the first place upon the rivers and the shores of the Sound, early 
sent out pioneers to the neighboring mountain ranges, and 
from early times also there was a drift from Connecticut into 
what is now Vermont and New^ Hampshire, where may be 
found many towns identical in name with those in Connecticut 
and Massachusetts. W^e may well rejoice in that Christian 
civilization that early reached out to help " our brethren in the 
wilderness," — that wilderness being at first in New England, 
later, in New York and Ohio. From generation to generation, 
in that westward march of empire, in the settlement of the 



HISTOKIl AL SKKMON. I 3 

W ist. aiul tlu- carvin;^ i>ul <>! i,a<al rnipiii-.s in what \\i- ii<;i<l to 
study about as tlu* ( inat AnuTicaii Desert, cliiuliintj tlic Rocky 
Mountains, (li-sciiuliui; the Pacific slopes, kavinp cvrrwvlnrc 
the irn|)ress of a Christian civih/.ation. Connecticut always had 
her full share. I-'or the " W'iiniinjij of the West " an<l " The 
Leaveninjj of the Nation." Connecticut has piven more than 
$4,500,000 throuijh the treasury of the Home Missionary So- 
ciety. \o less than loo.txxi of New ICnj^land ancestry may f)c 
found in the mapni'ficent states of \\'ashin):jt(Mi and Oregon. 
It is this Christian civilization which has made the nation what 
it is. and in this huildiujcf of the nation we cannot speak too 
sirontjly of the foundations upon which the oI«l towns were 
built, of these Christian influences which have given the foun- 
datit>n of Christian character, of these Christian homes where 
iKiys an<l girls were trained in wh.it we sometimes used to 
think a rigid discipline. — studying a catechism rather than 
riding a bicycle. I'.ut yet no one can doubt that out of these 
country towns and Christian homes have come the men and 
women who are the very brain and brawn of our land. The 
contribution from the rural cotnnnmities to the life of the 
nation is a large contribution. Tlu- citiis owe a ilebt to the 
country which they will find it hard to meet. Had it not been 
for these C hri>tian bonus, and " the sanctuary in the midst 
thereof," wf should not li.ive had the nation which is our joy 
today. This marvelous develo|>nKnt, aiid this rapid growth, 
which thus far have been able to endure and solve the increas- 
ing problems, are because of the foundations laid in the pa^t. 
ami because the .sanctuary has been ever in the midst of the 
coujmunity life. There is not a community in the state without 
its cliurch siWre p«iiniing toward heaven. No society was al- 
lowed to be organized until it had proven to tlu' Cicmral Court 
it.s ability and its willingness to build a meeting house and 
support the regular ministrations of the gospel. Daven|K»rt. 
Ho«iker. i'lcecher. llushnell. Taylor. Tyler. an«l a thcMisand 
more are only the samples of honored names C«)nnecticut con- 
tributes to the continuation of the nth of Hebrews. We may 
be proud of our Connecticut ancestry. 

W e are here met to celebrate the centenary of the incor|H»ra- 
tion «)f the town, hut the ecclesiastical history of the comnnuiity 
is older far. 



14 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

The original petition to the Honorable General xA.ssembly 
for permission to hire an orthodox minister to preach the word 
of God in what is now Marlborough w^as signed by the inhabit- 
ants of the towns of Colchester, Hebron, and Glastonbury, 
whose names were as follows : 

Epaphrus Lord, Benjamin Kneeland, Jr., 

Ichabod Lord, Dorothy Waters, 

Benjamin Kneeland, John Kneeland, 

Samuel Loveland, Joseph Kneeland, 

William Buell, John Waddams, 

Joseph Whight, Abraham Skinner, 

Ebenezer Mudge, David Dickinson. 

This petition was dated May 15, 1736, and addressed to the 
Honorable General Assembly, then sitting at Hartford, and 
reads in substance as follows : 

We would humbly show to your honors our difficult circumstances, 
that some live seven, some eight miles distant from public worship, and 
several of us have weakly wives who are not able to go to the public 
worship of God, and would humbly show to your Honors that there 
are above sixty children in our neighborhood which are so small that 
they are not able to go to any place of public worship ; and now we 
would humbly show to your Honors that we have the liberty of those 
parishes whereunto we belong to assemble together, and, as often as we 
can, to hire an orthodox minister to preach the word of God amongst 
us. We, your humble servants, humbly pray your Honors would please 
to grant the liberty hereof, that we may not be counted transgressors 
of the laws, and as we would, being always bound in duty, humbly pray. 

This petition was granted without release from parish taxes 
May, 1736. April 30, 1737, thirty-two signers inform the 
Honorable General Assembly that they have hired a minister 
most of the year, and pray to be released from parish taxes ; 
this was negatived May, 1737. October 2, 1740, eleven per- 
sons in Hebron, three in Colchester, seven in Westchester, and 
nine in Eastbury petition again ; they state that they desire their 
children to be trained in the fear of God and a knowledge of the 
Gospel. They also state that their limits embrace 172 persons, 
and their list £1,661. As they are not at present able to bear 
parish charges, they ask liberty to hire six months annually 
anci a release froni parish taxes. Notice was given said so- 
cieties to appear, and the petition was negatived in October, 






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SECOND PETITION FOR INCORPORATION 



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i>r BCCLK.SIAhTICAL hOCiliTY. 







HISTORICAL SERMON. I5 

1740. Hebron was iK'titioiud by (.Kviii taxpaytrs to be rr- 
Icascd from parisb taxes September 22. 1740; tbe town voted 
to release tbem. 

SeptemlK-r 24, 1745. thirty-four signers live six, seven, and 
ten miles distant from places of worship, and they aj^ain peti- 
tion their desire for parish priviiijj[es. and ask that a committee 
be appointed to view and report. The committee reported lines 
for a society. Xeijatived .\pril. 1746. 

The list of the petitioners from the several towns was as 
follows : 

Hcbrnii. 0/)7:iS 11 petitioners. 

Colchester, ^,"4X1 :i.^ y 

\Vesicl)e>ier. 4:3X3 :iS 5 

Ea.stbury. 4*488 : 17 10 



C2.j^S-■ '» .^5 petitioners. 



In this same month of .\pril, I74^t. after their petition was 
netjatived by the rieneral Assembly, forty-three petitioners ap- 
point William lUiell their a^ent to present their case to the 
next session of the ( leneral .\sseitibly. They represent that they 
have had winter privileges ten years, that Hebron and Col- 
chester do not oppose. Westchester is four or five miles distant 
and a river intervenes, the meeting house in I'-astbury six and 
one-half miles distant and near the northwest part of the 
society — mountains and rivers indicate a separate societv. 
The peo|)le are united. .Vegatived May 10. 174^). 

I'astbury's opposition to the separation seems t«) have been 
that it would greatly reduce and enfeeble their society, they 
having been subjected to great expenses by the death and settle- 
ment of ministers. Joseph Pitkin, the committee that l«K-ated 
Kastbury meeting house, testifies that the land in the mid«lle of 
the s«Kiety is j)oor. and they could not accommodate the south- 
< ast inhabitants without going too far south for the general 
good. Westchester. May J5. 1746. through its commitlt-e. 
Wells and West, who l<K'ated Westchester house sixteen years 
In-fore, testify that the scnithernmost of the three places was 
selected as most of the people lived that way. and they sup- 
|K)setl those living north might be set to a new MK'ietv. 



l6 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

The following reasons for a remonstrance to be presented 
to the General Assembly by a committee from the Westchester 
church may be of interest : 

They, the Westchester people, are but three or four miles 
from the meeting house as located by the Assembly committee. 

They settled two ministers in sixteen years. 

They are much weakened b}- taking off the south part of 
their society (Millington). 

Few farms are unimproved. 

It will kill two societies to make one ; Eastbury has al- 
ready had a brief, that is a special tax for the support of the 
society. 

April 9, 1747, fifty-three signers renew their petition for a 
society in accordance with a committee's report. Eastbury op- 
poses through its agent, Hubbard, and in other ways, but not- 
withstanding all opposition the society was incorporated and 
named Marlborough, J\Iay 11, 1747, but those taken from 
Eastbury shall pay rates to that society for four years ; this 
is eleven years after the first petition to the General Assembly 
for permission to hire a minister six months. The location of 
the meeting house was established May 8, 1748. 

October 4, 1748, at a meeting legally warned, it was voted 
to apply to " your Honors for a tax of one shilling on the acre 
for the term of four years on all land that is not salable by 
law that is in the society of Marlborough aforesaid, of which 
land there is a considerable tract in said society owned and 
held by nonresident proprietors living in the province of the 
Massachusetts Bay, the value of which land, notwithstanding 
the great burden which we have aforesaid, increased since we 
were made a society to double the value." 

In May, 1749, six persons taken from Eastbury can no 
longer bear the burden of paying taxes in both places, which 
last year were 7s. 6d. on the £, beside the settlement of their 
minister. They ask release from the General Assembly, but 
the Assembly negatived the petition. In May, 1750, eight 
signers renew the petition, which was negatived. But the pe- 
titioners did not lose courage. The society voted unanimously 
taset a meeting house on the top of the hill on the east side of 
the highway, twenty-eight rods north of Ezra Strong's, and to 




^V(J 






li,.- I..K.. A.. .-.KRMON. 17 

.•ip|H)int a coinniilli'i'. A pclilion was also made In llic Ciiiural 
Courl for a confjrinati<>n of this vote for location. The cUrk 
of the cominitlce iiifonmd the (Icncral Court that they have 
lai<l two rates of 4s. and 2s.. appointed a huildiu}^ coniniiltee, 
set up a frame. 48 x 36 ft., and covered it. May 14. 1750. 

Tlu'se committees seemed to have worked faithfully ancl 
harmoniously, hiring preachers for six months and painiu}^ 
imlependence from the various societies that they had hereto- 
fore helon^ed to. hut they did not complete a church orj^aniza- 
tion until the council met to ordain Mr. Mason in May. 1749. 
A church was then t^ithered. composed of such memhers as 
were in gcKxl and rei^ular standinj^ in those societies to which 
they belonged |)revious to the f)rganization of this church : 
they drew u|i a confession of faith and a covenant, which were 
adopted by the church, and after such organization they for- 
mally voted to re<|uest Mr. Mason to take the pastoral charge 
of them, which he accepted. Tradition says that Mr. Mason 
was ordained on the timbers drawn to erect the meeting house 
by the committee apj)ointed in May. 174*;. The committee ap- 
pointed to secure timbers having done its duty, another com- 
mittee was appointed to em|)Ioy workmen to raise and cover 
the meeting house in 1749, the expense of doing this work 
being covered by a tax of four shillings on the pound. This 
committee having done its work, the church was glazed, which 
seems to have reduced their resources to such an extent as to 
comf>el them t«> call a halt in the expenditure of money for the 
church until .April. 1754. when it was voted to make a pulpit 
in our meeting house." and to make seats and i)ews, and to 
■ seal " said house up to the windows, and also to make two 
pairs of stairs. It was also vote<l (hiring the same year to 
make one tier of pews r»n the back side and on Ixith ends of our 
meeting house, and two tiers of pews ou the fore side of said 
house. an<l the remainder <>f the lower side of saiil liinise to be 
iilltd with seats. 

In 1755 it was vote«l that the committee provide joice and 
JKiards at the society's cost for the gallery door. December 10, 
1756. voted that Sergeant Asa Foote procure lock and suitable 
fastenings inr the meeting hotise at tlie society's cost. Tn 
I7^>l crrt.iiti chari,'es wire broutrht airainst Rev. Mason, which 



I 8 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

were supposed to have been proved, and he was dismissed after 
a pastorate of twelve years ; but by a subsequent council he was 
restored to the ministry, and settled at Chester, Conn., where 
he died. 

After being supplied for a time by pastors from neighboring 
churches Rev. Benjamin Dunning was settled, his ordination 
taking place in May, 1762. During this year more work was 
done on the galleries, and they were finished in 1770. In Mav, 
1773, Mr. Dunning was dismissed, having served the church 
eleven years. Mr. Dunning later settled in Saybrook, and died 
there. In October, 1773, Rev. Huntington preached as a can- 
didate, and accepted a call extended to him, but later declined. 
The society renewed their call in 1776, and he was ordained the 
following May. Mr. Huntington having been ordained, the 
people continued their efforts to improve the meeting house. 

They vote in 1777 to erect pews in the body part of the 
meeting house, and in 1782 they vote to shingle the front side 
of the roof. In 1787 they vote to procure pine clapboards to 
cover the front and two ends of the meeting house, and the fol- 
lowing year the north side was covered with pine. In 1789 the 
inside of the house and the outside doors were painted. In 
1792 they vote to plaster the church if it could be done for 
£30, and two years later they shingle the north side of the meet- 
ing house. Mr. Huntington was dismissed from the pastorate 
after twenty-one years of service ; he was afterward a minister 
in Middletown and North Lyme, dying in the latter place. The 
next step in the completion of the meeting house was painting 
it on the outside, and at the same time replacing the chestnut 
shingles with pine shingles and painting the roof. 

The finishing of the meeting house took place in 1803, 
when it was voted to pay Eleazer Strong $30 to underpin and 
lay the steps; thus the house begun in 1749 was not completed 
until 1803, being fifty-four years in building, and finished by 
laying its foundation stones last. The town was incorporated 
1803, and we are therefore celebrating the century of the com- 
pletion of the meeting house, and the incorporation of the 
town. 

After the dismissal of Mr. Huntington the church was 
Without a pastor for several years. Calls were given to Rev. 



HISTORICAI SERMON. I9 

Sylvcsta Dana in I7<>S, krv. \ iiicciit (i<»ul<l in ij^ri. Kev. 
Kphraiiu WtHHlrufT an<l Kiv. Thoiuas IawIs in iSoi. S«nuf 
twenty ditVortnl names an- rimnlcd as preachers in the seven 
years that followed Mr. Hnntinjjftons (hsmissal. The scttlc- 
nunt of David 1'.. Uipley in 1S04 follo\ve«l closely the comple- 
tion of the meetinij honse and the incorporation of the town. 
Mr. Ki|)ley was ordained Septemher i«>. 1S04. and conti!nK-<l 
pastor of the church until March, iHjj. |)urin;.j the last two 
years of .Mr. Ripley's pastorate a fund of S.^.txx) was raised by 
voluntary contriI)utit)ns. which was increase*! hy a lejjacy of 
$i.(xx) fn»m Mrs. Patience Lord Hosmer. and oilur smaller 
leijacies. to upward of $4.0(xi. 

.\fter the dismission of .Mr. Ripley, the pulpit was supplied 
hy John Iletupstead. James N'oyes. and Joseph I*. Tyler, till 
Septemher 2<>. 1S2S. when Dr. Chauncey Lee was called from 
C'olehrook. Conn., to the pastorate of the church : he accepted 
the call and was installed Xovemher 18, iSjS. The memlKT- 
shij) at this time was seventy-six : twenty-one males and fifty- 
five females. l'"orty-six were added to the church in 1S29- 
1S30. Dr. Lee remained pastor for nine years, .\fter the 
dismission of Dr. Lee the pulpit was supplied hy Rev. W'illiatu 
1"'. \'ail. Rev. I'.eiijamin l-'la. Rev. William Case, Rev. John !•". 
,\orton, and Rev. Rolurt D. ( iardner. Rev. Miram Hell wa.s 
ordained IVhruar\ J«>. 1X40. and remained its pastor imtil 1850. 
Durinjij tin- pastorate of .Mr. liell this present house was huilt. 
I tpuite from his own story «»f the huildini; of the new church : 

The old house h.iving l)cconie cold, um-onifortahle, and unpleasant 
as a place of worship, there was an incrcasinK desire for several years 
in the minds of a great part of ilie s<iciely lo erect a new house. But 
no sufficient action was niaile witli reference to it until January. 1841. 
when Captain Moseley Talcott drew up a siihscription pajHT, and I»y 
great and praiseworthy perseverance, assiste<l by sinne others, amid 
many discnuragemcnts, succeeded in obtaining subscriptions surticient In 
warrant llic undertaking. 

M a s|xt:ial meeting of the .society, Marcl) 11. 1H41. .Moseley Talcott. 
.Xugusius HIish, George Lord, Edward B. Watkinson, Horatio Boiler, 
and William Finlcy were appointed a committee to receive proposals for 
building a meeting house, to view meeting houses recently huilt. and 
obtain plans and cost of the s.ime. all to l>e submitted t<' v at 

a subsetiiienl meeting. .Xt a sul>se<iuent meeting of the irch 

.24. 1H41, it wa« voted to accept the subscription in favor ut buiidiiig a 



20 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

new meeting house, and Moseley Talcott, Horatio Bolles, Alvan 
Northam, Edward B. Watkinson, William Finley, William Phelps, and 
Augustus Blish were appointed the building committee. At an ad- 
journed meeting April 7th, the building committee were authorized to 
dispose of the old house and contract for the building of the new one. 
At a meeting May 31st the building" committee were directed to build 
a basement room under the new house. 

According to the above authority and directions the committee 
contracted with Messrs. A. & S. Brainard to build the walls of the base- 
ment room of stone, and with Augiistus Truesdale to erect and finish 
a house upon it for $2,600. The stones were drawn from the north 
part of the town near Seth Dickinson'^ by individuals without any ex- 
pense to the society. The basement room, about thirty-five feet square, 
was commenced about the ist of August and completed so that the 
house was raised the 7th of September, being thirty-eight feet by fifty- 
six feet and twenty-foot posts. Mr. Truesdale finished his contract in 
January, 1842, just about one year from the time the subscription paper 
was first started. 

June 13th, the last sermon was preached in the old house. The pews 
had been taken out of the lower part of the house on the Friday pre- 
vious, and the audience for the most part sat in the gallery. On the 
next day the house was razed to its foundations and the ground cleared 
away for its successor, which stands about the length of it farther back 
than the old one. The text of the last sermon was from i Cor.. 7:31 : 
" The fashion of this world passeth away." 

Public worship was held in the schoolhouse during the summer, but 
in the fall the committee fitted up the basement room so that the con- 
gregation convened there from the first Sabbath in December till the 
house was dedicated. The house was carpeted and the pulpit cushioned 
and the communion table, sofa, chairs, and lamps procured by the 
Ladies' Sewing Society at an expense of $120. When the house was 
nearly completed there was a general wish expressed by the members of 
the society to procure a bell. With this end in view. General Enos H. 
Buell volunteered his services, drew up a paper, and, after commendable 
and indefatigable exertion, he obtained subscriptions sufficient to enable 
the society to make arrangements for procuring one. The house was 
dedicated March 16, 1842. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. 
Tyler of East Windsor Institute. Music was under the direction of 
Mr. Madison Woodward of Columbia. The day was pleasant and a 
large number of people were present. 

Mr. Bell adds that there were two instances worthy of 
notice in the audience that day — Captain Theodore Lord and 
Colonel Elisha Buell were present with their descendants to 
the fourth generation. 

The earlier deacons were William Buell, Joseph Kellogg, 



IIISTOKI* A I. sr.KMON. 21 

J.«k1 Owin, David SkiiiiRT. Thuinas Lovclaiul, Cornelius 
Shcpartl. David Skinmr. Jr.. Tlionias Carrier. Jonathan 
Xorthani. lihtn Stroni;. 

Ki'v. W'arnii l"iskc was installc«l iXccnibc'r 17, i>>50; dis- 
nii.>^.si'd January u. 1S51J. Kcv. Alpluus J. Tike- was installed 
March S. iX^ij; (hsmissi-d I'thruary jj, \i^>j. 

AUir tlu- disinis.sal of Mr. I'ikt-. Kcv. S. W . < i. Rankin sup- 
plied thf pulpit most of the time for four years, when Kcv. 
Oscar r.issell was installed. March 2(j. 1.S71. Mr. I'.issell re- 
mained live years, heini; di.smissed ( )ctoi>er 10, 1S7O. He is 
now livinq^ in Mas.sachusetts, and a son is following in his 
fathers footsteps. Kev. Charles W. Hanna supplied f<»r a 
year, and was installed August 2, 1S77. lie was dismissed 
May 7. iS7«>. and after pastorates at South Canaan and I'alls 
Village is now pastt)r at Kast Canaan. Kev. Jasper 1'. Har- 
vey supi)lie(l for one year, and was installed the following 
year. May U). 1S80, being the last pastor installed. He was 
dismissed July 25. i>^2, antl is now pastor at Cohunhia. .^ince 
the dismissal of .Mr. Harvey the church was supplied l»y stu- 
dents from the Hartford Theological .Seminary, and by the fol- 
lowing: Kev. Henry Holmes. Kev. James I'.ell. Kev. Charles 
1). Koss. Kev. H. \V. \ail, and Kev. ICben H. Jenkyns. .Mr. 
Jenkyns is now settled in Sebago, .Me. Kev. (ieorge 1*. I-'uller. 
the present pastor, began his pastoral duties .May i, mo2. 

We have seen the value «)f the.se Christian institutions, these 
Christian fomidations in the history of these towns of this 
honored CfMumonwealth. And that which should rest upon our 
hearts is the fact that what was so valued in the past is of no 
less value to<lay. and is our hope for the time to come. If any 
danger more than any other faces us it is that we will trust in 
our wealth, our numbers, our extent of territory, our prowess 
as a world |>«iwer, an<l forget that the thing which gives the 
promise of perpetuity for the commonwealth is that integrity 
of character and that allegiance to Christian truth which has 
been pr«»claimed from generation to generation in those old 
towns. .\n<l therefore, as we are here gathered, the represen- 
tatives of this neighliorh(x>«l of churches, we are to rememlxrr. 
we are to tell it to ourselves again and again, we arc to im- 
press it n|xin otjr chihlren. that there is no service too great 



22 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

and no sacrifice too costly for us to make in order that the 
sanctuary may be maintained in the midst of our communities. 
We have celebrated today the patience and persistence of these 
people of Marlborough, the sacrifices they endured which 
makes it possible that we may gather in this sanctuary today, 
and let me impress it upon your thought, let me make it as 
emphatic as possible, that here is a sacred heritage — that you 
of today hold these things in trust and that as stewards you 
must render an account. And let me repeat, and again repeat, 
that there is no service too great and no sacrifice too costly that 
this church may be maintained, and that religious institutions 
may ever exert their ennobling influence in this community. 

• We will do well to remember those who have gone out from 
this community into the life and work of the world. You may 
find your representatives in every state in the Union, and in 
every enterprise of the world's achievements. The appeal 
rests upon every well-wisher of Marlborough that everything 
that can be done should be done to maintain the prosperity of 
this institution. So that, as the people of the past have gone 
up into the mountain to gather wood for this building and 
stones for its foundations, Jehovah may take pleasure in it, and 
be glorified in all the succeeding years. 

Permit me to call the attention of all well-wishers of this 
good old town, not forgetting those 'who have gone out beyond 
its borders, that if they would serve their generation and do 
honor to the noble ancestors of the past, they can find no better 
way to accomplish this than in seeing to it that on their part 
they contribute of their service and love and money to the up- 
building of this church of Jesus Christ. May each one see to 
it that he pays this debt as God shall bid him. 

In closing let me emphasize one thought that ought to ring 
around the world, in the face of all the scoffing of all these 
days of worldliness and indifference and achievement of our 
time, that God has placed His church in the world to redeem 
it, that God is pleased to save the world through the church, 
that there is no factor in all the w^orld's inventions and accom- 
plishments of greater import for the world's good than the 
Christian church. And God. who has given His own dear Son 
in order that through the cross of Calvary there may be an 



HISTORICAL SERMON. 23 

ahmulant rcdiiiiption. whiK- carryinj^' forward His plans with 
infuiiti" patience, will conipkti- tluin to tluir final consumma- 
tion. .\s (lo<I in olden time selected Abraham and his seed to 
save the world, so tcnlay and throuj^h the days to come, (led 
has put His church in the world t*) save the world. The fiat 
has p)ne forth and none can stay it. It is not because of our 
wealth, nor of our achievements, nor of our ])ossessions stretch- 
inj2^ around the j^lobe. nor of our manufactures and inventions, 
but it is because of the humble, faithful, consistent followers 
of the meek and lowly Jesus, who day by day fulfill their 
ta.sks and wait in humble faith, that the army of the Lord's 
hosts shall march under the banner of the blood-red cross to 
completest victory. Anil to His Name be all praise. Amen. 



MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 2STU, AT THE 

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 



The centennial of the incorporation of the town was a suc- 
cess, notwithstanding the heavy rain of the night preceding 
the day and of the day itself. 

Reporters of the Hartford Conrant and Times were on hand 
and helped us celebrate, as the following extracts show : 

The Hartford Times: 

Marlborough, August 25th. 

In the days of classic antiquity certain places had their presiding 
divinities, or spirits. Marlborough's presiding spirit has sounded the 
bugle note of the hundred-3^ear cycle, and it is now echoing from the 
hilltops all about here. This skimbrous old town has shaken itself and 
it is now wide awake, and has blossomed out in patriotic colors. Flags 
are flying to the breeze, and there is a general air of rejuvenescence. 
Miss Hall's big and hospitable mansion is thrown open to as many 
guests as it will hold, and it will hold a goodly sized number, as it did 
150 years ago. And this centennial has brought it back to the hotel 
mark again. 

While attending yesterday the opening services in the old church 
(now beautifully decorated by some of the Cheneys of South Man- 
chester) the shades of a vanished past seemed to troop by. It is an 
ever moving throng — now coming on to the stage of action, now van- 
ishing into the past, or into the unknown future. The future merges 
into the present, the present becomes the past, and past and future are 
the two great seas of eternity, between which we play our little parts. 
The Pilgrims builded better than they knew. The poor old Mayflower 
and its precious freight were saved for a wise purpose. These little 
New England towns laid the foundations of a republic that is to take 
a hand — the leading hand — in the history of the world's great future. 

The Hartford Conrant, August 26, 1903, said: 
Residents of the town of Marlborough and those from other places 
associated with them, did themselves proud and reflected much credit 
on '-the old town in the exercises commemorating the one hundredth 
anniversary of the incorporation of the town, yesterday, which were 
held in the Congregational Church. The weather was very unfavorable, 
for it rained steadily all the morning until nearly the hour for the 



DISPLAY or ANTlMl'KS. 2$ 

services, eleven o'clock, and almiit a half hour iK'furc they ended, a 
smart thunder shower blew in. It was licautiful weather during the 
exercises in the church. 

The prfKession, which was to have been formed at the Mfih>idist 
Church at lo.:}o o'clock, headed by tlic Good Will Club's fife and drum 
band, had to be omitted owing to the heavy rain, but the East Hamp- 
ton I'"ifc and Drum Corps, in their brilliant green uniforms, marched 
up the town and met the (iood Will Club and the East Glastonbury 
Brass Hands as they came down the road, and duritig the speaking the 
Good'Will Ixiys played outside the church, while ilu- luist Glastonbury 
band played inside. The church was crowded and many of the people 
who could not get in held a love feast in the vcstibtile. judging by the 
noise during the afternoon proceedings. 

Marlborf>ugh Center presented somewhat the appearance of a fair 
day yesterday. There were several refreshment tents erecte<l by huck- 
sters, and the fences f«ir some distance north of the church were lined 
with teams hitched there while their owners were listening to the liter- 
ary exercises. The celebration was a great success, and much credit 
is due the several conuniiteis, which wurked hard to make the occasion 
a success. 

DISPLAY OF AN TIQUKS. 

All intiTcstincj display of aiiti(|iics was shown at the 
Sophia lUtdl lionsc, mxt north of the clnircli, in charge of 
Clayton S. Holies and Mrs. Bolles. niemhcrs of the coniniittee 
on anticinities. There was the old Iiihie first used in the origi- 
nal Congregational Church, a toddy stick made hy a former 
minister, spinning wheels, a (|nilt made in 1S17. old powder 
horns and Revolutionary muskets, old cl«Kks and <liKinnents, 
an<l a large mimher of articles formerly the property of Cap- 
tain Moseley Talcott, the father of llart Talcott of Hartford, 
shown hy the latter. 

Several ladies of the town, memhers of the committee, 
dressed in the dresses worn hy their grandmothers a century 
or so ago, arranged their hair in the style of the early part of 
the last century. They l<M»keil very (|naint and interesting, 
particularly when imitating the simpering ways of the misses 
of the period the\ represented. They also imitated the grace- 
ful cottrtesy and inamurs ami the court I \ 1m>\v i>f tin- former 
gener.itions. 

l-".xerci.scs began at the cluirch at 11 o'clock. I Ion. John 
Bigclow of New ^^>^k i)r« sidiiu- iir.iviT IxMIlg o(Tt ml h\ Krv. 
Samuel Hart, D.l ' 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

By Miss Mary Hall. 



Mr. President, Neighbors, and Friends: — I have found a 
reference in two old manuscripts to a petition from the Eccle- 
siastical Society of Marlborough for incorporation as a town 
as early as 1783, but I have been unable to find the petition on 
file at the state library at Hartford. 

The records of the town give a complete sketch of proceed- 
ings at the time of incorporation, and at the risk of being 
tedious I shall quote in full from the petition and resolution : 

At a General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, holden at New 
Haven on the second Thursday of October, 1803. Upon the petition of 
Joel Foote, agent of the First Ecclesiastical Society in Marlborough,, 
and the rest of the inhabitants of said society, showing to this assembly 
that they are in three towns and three counties, and at a very great 
distance from the centers of those towns and counties to which they re- 
spectively belong and where public business is done in said towns and 
counties, and that many and great inconveniences arise to them from 
their present local situation, and that it would be greatly beneficial to 
them in a variety of respects to be incorporated into a town, with all 
the rights of such corporation in this state and with liberty of one 
representative to the General Assembly, as per petition on file dated 
the 27th day of April, 1803. 

The following is the resolution of the General Assembly 
incorporating the town : 

Resolved by this assembly, That said society and all the inhabitants 
living within the present limits of said society be, and the same is 
hereby, incorporated into a distinct town, and shall be called and known 
by the name of Marlborough, and the inhabitants thereof shall enjoy 
all the powers, privileges, immunities, and franchises which the in- 
habitants of other towns in this state enjoy, with the right of sending 
one representative to the General Assembly in this state ; and said town 
of- Marlborough shall pay its proportion of all charges, expenses, and 
debts already accrued by and now due from said towns of Glastonbury, 
Hebron, and Colchester, and take all its proportion of the present poor 




S o 



HISTORK AI. AODKESS. 27 

of said towns, aiul shall rfCt-ivc its |)r(>|M>rtioii of all the pr(»pcrly and 
stock •>f said towns, the |>ropf>rlioii m) all of the cases af«iresaid to Ik- 
deternnned according to the list of the said towns of Glastonhiiry, 
llehron, Colchester, and MarllKiroiinh for the year iHoj. an<l Messrs. 
Isaac Spencer, jd. Jonathan O. Moseley. and Kpaphroditus Champion, 
all of Kast lladdain. in the connly of Middlesex, esquires, Ik.*, and they 
arc hcrehy, appointed a coniniittee to ascertain the proportion in all the 
cases aforesaid; and in case of disagreement hetwcen the selectmen of 
the several towns aforesaid and said town of MarllxjrouKh, in any of 
the |)articnlars aforesaid, then, and in snch case, the selectmen of either 
town aforesaid may after the joth rlay of March next call ont said com- 
mittee to meet at the house of Klisha lUiel in said Marlhorough for the 
|uir[>osc of ascertaining in manner as af<»resaid such proiK)rtion — such 
selectmen giving at least four days' notice in writing under their hands 
to one of the selectmen of each of the other towns of the time and 
place of the meeting of said committee ; and the selectmen of said Col- 
chester. Hehron, Glastonbury, and Marlborough shall meet on or be- 
fore the said -joth day of March at the dwelling house of said lUiel in 
said MarllMiroiigh, and separate the lists properly belonging to said 
towns respectivciy for the year iSo.^, and certify in writing under their 
han<ls to the treasurer of this state the amount of the lists of each of 
said towns, and shall also make out and certify u«der tlieir hands to the 
respective town clerks of said towns the list of each person, with his 
name annexed thereto, whose list would have belonged to said towns 
respectively had said Marllxirough been a distinct town on the 20th 
day of August. 1803. And the treasurer of this state. <»n receiving the 
certificate by them to be transmitted to him. shall issue his warrant for 
rates on the list of iSo.^ to said towns accordingly: and the town and 
freeman's meeting shall be holden at such place in said town <»f Marl- 
Nirough as the inhabitants thereof shall direct, and the tirst town meet- 
ing in said town of MarllMirough shall Iw holden on the second Monday 
of December next at the meeting house in said Marlb<irough, and Elijah 
Kellogg, esq., of said town of Marnx)rough, shall be the moderator of 
said first town meeting; an<l said town shall have and enjoy at said tirst 
me«'liiig and at all other meetings the same |K)wers and authority and 
pHH-eed in the same manner in transacting business as other towns in 
the state have and enjoy and proceed at their annual meetings in the 
months of November and December, anti the officers chosen at said first 
meeting shall hold their respective offices until the next annual meeting; 
and said Elijah Kellogg shall warn said first meeting by setting up a 
notification theret^f on the public sign post in said Marlborough at least 
eight (lays licforc the day of meeting; and l>e it further resolved, that 
the s.nid town of Marlliorough l>e, and the same is hereby, annexed to 
the county of Hartford and to the probate district of East Iladdam, 
and are authorized to chuse four jurymen. 

A true copy of record. Examined by Swirn. Wvi.i.vs. .T.-. r,-fi>rv 

Recorded by David Kilborn, Ri'g,\su 



28 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

" At a Town Meeting legally Warned & Holden in Marl- 
borough December 12th, 1803, as per Resolution of General 
Assembly," considerable business was transacted beside the 
election of officers. Among the votes were the following: 

Voted, That David Kilborn's barn and yard be a Pound for 
the ensuing year and that David Kilborn be Kee Ceeper. 

Voted, That the Select Men District the Town for Mending 
Highways and report at the next Annual Meeting. 

Voted to raise one cent on a dollar on list of 1803 to Defra>^ 
the town expenses, also one cent and five mills on a dollar on 
same list to mend Highways. 

Voted to allow one dollar for a man per day in May and 
June and fifty cents in the fall, and that two good yoke of oxen, 
cart or plow, be the same as a man. 

Voted, That it shall be legal warning of Town Meeting to 
set up Notification thereof on the Sign Post by the Meeting 
House and near Epaphras Lord's House, and at the corner of 
the Road near. David Finley's House. 

A perusal of the records of the town for fifty years follow- 
ing its incorporation shows that great caution and economy con- 
trolled the town's management of affairs. 

At the first town meeting it was voted that the Head Con- 
stable procure good and sufficient Bonds for the collection of 
the State Tax, and^that the Constable collect the Town Tax free 
from expense to said Town. 

Large liberties were voted Select Men in mending high- 
ways, and in changing the same for the convenience of those 
living in different sections of the town. 

The town Pound was a movable institution, its location be- 
ing voted on from year to year. 

The price of labor varied but little for some years, but was 
regularly voted on at Town Meetings — there seemed to be a 
close connection between this price of labor and the mending 
of the highways, the amount to be charged per day or per 
hour for that purpose, being fixed beyond question. 

One vote of the town fixed " the highway rate bills for labor 
the ensuing year per day of ten hours in the spring and summer 
for-each man, sixtv-six cents ; for each team equal to two yoke 



HISTORICAL ADDKESS. 29 

of niiddliiijST oxcii with a cart or plow, sixty-six cents; at all 
otluT seasons of tin.- yiar ( 34) Thirty-four cents." 

I^ntir the town was rt<listrictf«l, ami at times as many as 
fourteen districts were ni.ide «>f its highways ; tin se districts 
were let to individuals, the IxMUjds of which were carefully 
fixed hy a cnuiinittee appointed for that purpose — this was in 
iSj4 — and i'r<>in this date onward jjreat changes were made 
in the hii,diw:i\ s : many of those discontinued would ninki- a 
most iuterestiu}^ ehaptir in the town's history. 

Marlhorinigh was lifted from its isolated condition by the 
hnildinj^ of the Hartford and New Londoti turnpike in iSoo. 
the incorporation of the Ilehrtm atul Middle Iladdam turnpike 
company in 1S02. and of the Chatham and MarIlx>rouph com- 
pany in iSo<i. The completion of these roads was f»f tjri*at 
advantatje to the town. The barns of the MarllMiroutjh inn or 
tavern, then kept by Rlisha P.ucll. furnished a place for change 
of hr>rse< and refreshment for travelers. ( Incsts of natioml 
reputatii»n were frecpiently entertained here. Among those 
known to have been entertained were F^residents James Monrfx* 
and Andrew Jackson. It is said that Washington passed 
through the town once, and was entertained at the Hebron inn. 
on his way to Lebanon. Turnpike gates were then cstablishe<l, 
where tolls were collected to keep the turnpike roa<ls in repair. 

The year 180,^ and the years following were eventful years 
— the completion <»f the church, which was tifty-four years in 
|>rocess of erection, was accomi)lishe<l that year. The turn- 
pikes opencfl up travel through the tow n. an«l the incorporatior» 
of the town, after twenty years of struggle with the ( ieneral 
.Assembly, were the rewanis which came to our most re- 
markable ancestors, who ct>mmand my arlmiration and make 
me long to honor the men and women of a hundred years ago. 
by lifting this oM town out of its lethargy an«l deserted condi- 
tions into a life which shall be a monument to the cpiiet sleepers 
in yon«ler neglectcfl churchyard. 

rhe Marllx^rough Manufacturing Company was incorpo- 
rated in 1S15. the north factory Ix-ing built first, with some 
other smaller buildings, but later the company failed and these 
builflings were .sold to the Union Manufacturing Company. 



30 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

The Union IMannfacturing Company began operating this mill, 
and later built the lower mill and several dwellings. 

Hartford men were the owners of the property, the value of 
which I find entered on the town records by the Rev. David B. 
Ripley, then clerk, as early as 1818, as follows: 

" I hereby certify that the capital stock of the Marlborough 
Manufacturing Company is forty-two thousand dollars." 

This property was greatl}' increased in value as the years 
went on, and the homes of the operatives furnished a market for 
much of the produce of the farms of the town. 

The fabric manufactured was a blue cotton stripe, the 
market for which was found in the south among the cotton 
planters, for the clothing of the slaves. 

During the Civil War there was no demand for the cloth, 
and no cotton, and the mills stood idle. The old mill was 
destroyed by fire in 1861, and the new one in 1864, together 
with many of the dwellings wdiich had been occupied by the 
operatives of the mill. The mills when burned were owned by 
the late Isaac Allen. 

Since then a new mill and some dwellings have been built, 
and silk ribbon was maimfactured for a short time, but now 
the mill is silent and the dwellings vacant. 

The first mills in the town were grist and saw mills ; of 
the former, that of Robert Loveland seems to have been the 
first. It was in the northeastern part of the town, on the 
Black Ledge River. Later Joseph Ingraham and Edward Root 
had mills also. 

The first sawmill was built by Eleazer Kneeland in the 
southeastern part of the town about the time of the incorpora- 
tion of the Ecclesiastical Society, or a little later, perhaps as 
late as 1751. Other needed mills were built from time to time, 
when in 1840 there were in the town one woolen factory, one 
carding machine, two fulling mills, four sawmills, one gunnery, 
and two large cotton mills. When Joel Foote's fulling mill 
was in operation in the town, Jonathan Kilborn invented a 
machine for pressing cloth in Foote's mill. The principal 
part of this machine was a large screw. This screw, some 
years ago, was given to the Historical Society of Hartford. 
Mr. Kilborn invented other mechanical appliances, and so re- 



HISTORICAL AI»I)KESS. 3 I 

tiiarkablc were sonu- of llu-in considi-rt-d lliat the followinjj^ 
cntrv on his toinbsl<jiK- in Lolohtslcr may he read to(hi\ : 

lie was a man of ii)vcntii>n j^rfai 

Above all tliat lived niKli. 
Htit CDiild not invcMit to live 

Wlu-n Cini] nllcf! him to r\\r 

Soon .nfter ilu- lown \\.i-> iiHoi|ii)i.it( li .i posi-oiiui- was 
located in the central part of the town, and David Killxirn ap- ' 
pointed postmaster, lie held office ahoiit four years, and was 
succeeded hy I'.lisha liuell. who held it two years, when he 
was succeeded hy ( ieneral hji<»s II. I'lUell. who held it until 
i83»>. when Asa Day was a|>pointe<l. Day's successors were 
Miss Mary liuell. Mrs. Sarah r.oardinan, Mr. 1*'. C". Warner, 
and Mrs. Harriet liuell W'anur. who was the last of the I'uells 
to manatee tin- post-office. Ww post-office luitil ncent <late 
had been almost continuously in the l--lisha liuell family. 

Marlborouijh in its early history had a resident physician 
much «)f the time. Aiuoni^ those recorded as physicians here 
were He/.ekiah Kueeland. Timothy \\ imdhridi^e. I'leazer Mc- 
C'ray. David Smith, Dr. Spauliliuj.:^. Dr. I'almer. Lucius W. 
.Mcintosh. Lewis Collins. Zenas Strong. Koyal Kinpsbury. John 
ll. porter. Dr. I'oote. Harrison Mcintosh. 

I he citizens of the new town of .Marlhoroui;h appealed at 
once to the probate district of Kast Haddam. to which they be- 
loni^ed. for a day when the probate judije should be at the 
nearer town of Colchester, to attend to probate matters. There 
is no record that it was ever acted upon favorably. aii<l so the 
loni; distance over tin- hills to attejul to that business was con- 
tinued until 1846. when .Marlborout^h was ma<le a probate dis- 
trict. The first estate settled in the new district was that of 
I«H-1 F(M)te. who had ac<|uired the title of the Duke of Marl- 
lioroutjh on account of his continuous service in the (ieneral 
.\ssembly, he having Ixfu elected to that office twenty-two 
times. 

The first prol>ale judi^es u '>■> <Ii.inv,n {" I ,.t.l. 

and ( leorpe iMxite. 

The first sclniolhonse was erecie«l by Datnel lK»»lortl aiiU 
«)tlur>. nearly opp<-''' •'"• •'•■ ■ •••v.^' i.,..i., i.. i-«\» 



32 - MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

Schools were started in different sections of the town later ; 
in two sections, or districts, a room in a dwelling house was 
used for that purpose, Mr. Ezra Carter furnishing one and 
Deacon David Skinner the other. These schools were the be- 
ginning of the South and West Districts. 

In 1841 there were in the town five school districts: the 
Center, South, East, North, and West, with a total attendance 
of one hundred and seventy pupils. 

Captain Daniel Miller gave his property, by will dated 
May 12, 1801, after the decease of his wife, to the Center 
School District. Mrs. Miller died in 1833, and the district 
came into possession from this source of $1,800 ; this farm was 
leased for 999 years to Mr. Charles Carter for $1,800, the in- 
come from which was to be expended for the payment of salary 
or board of teachers for the Center School District. 

Select schools have from time to time been kept in the town ; 
among them, one by Dr. Chauncey Lee was well patronized 
by residents and nonresidents. 

Since then the boarding school's of Connecticut and neigh- 
boring states have called off the boys and girls from time to 
time, and an occasional boy has carried his education forward 
to the college and university. 

I have found the following in an old historical sermon by 
the Rev. Hiram Bell, which is the only record I have been 
able to find concerning the Episcopal Church in this town. 

The whole parish was Congregational in sentiment and 
church polity, and worshiped at one place till 1788, when Asa 
Foote, Ezra Carter, Elisha Lord, Weeks Williams, Nathan 
Niles, Reuben Curtis, Aaron Gillette, Martin Kellogg, Moses 
Kellogg, Jr., Gideon Jones, Jr., and Eli Jones left the society 
and joined the Episcopal Church in Hebron. 

They never built a house of worship, but lay service was 
performed in the schoolhouse in the south part of the town until 
about 1820, Vvhen. from removals and death, the congregation 
became so small that meetings were discontinued. Since that 
time those who belonged to that denomination attended public 
worship in Hebron. There were at one time about twenty 
fainilies who belonged to this order. 

November 10, 1831, a Raptist Church was formed of ten 



HlSTOklLAL ADDRKSS. 33 

ptTsons in town .iiid tlircc iioiiresicU-nts. Tlu* heads of families 
were Aaron riu-lps. Oliver I'lulps, and M/ra lUish. 

Meetinjjs were y^eiurally held in the Northwest sch(x>Ih«»u.se 
till 1S38, wluii they worshiped for about two years alternately 
with the Methodists in the ehapel at the factory village. Since 
that time n«> meetings have been held. 

At one time the resi<lept mcnihers were twenty-eight in 
nnmber. 

In 1810 Seth nickinsfiii ihm aik .him -.i\tstii ( . IJindiain 
joined the Metluxlists in I'.astbnry. .MmmU three years later 
a class was formed in the town, composed of ten <»r twelve per- 
sons. 

In iSmi <.r 1S17 a .Methodist clnirch or .society was formed 
of forty-tive individuals. Anuing them were the following 
heads of families : Sylvester C. Dunham. Seth Dickinson. Daniel 
Post, I-Mward Root, John Wheat, ( )liver Dewey, .\sa Uijijelow. 
Samuel !•". Jones, and Jeremiah I'lurdeii. 

Meetings were held by them at first in private iiouses, and 
afterwards mon ceiurrdh at the .\'<>rilnvest and Xnrthcast 
schoolhonses. 

.\lM)ut iS^iS till a.^iiu ni the L'nion .Manuiacturniu Com- 
pany tittefl u|) a chapel for them at the factory villaj^e, where 
they continued to worship, a part of the time alternating with 
the P.aptists, till 1841, when a meeting house was erected by 
tb' Ml at the center, and dedicated ( )ctolxT 20th of that year. 

! imothy Merritt. Jeremiah Stocking of Glastonbury, Allen 
Kanus of Long Island, Mr. • Iriffin. and Daniel lUirrows were 
among the pioneer preachers or exhorters. 

Circuit preachers cared for the services from 1830 to 1842. 
when a regular preacher was sent, William Livesey In-ing the 
first. 

Among his successors w en- the following : John Cooper, 
.Siflney Dean, L. C. Collins, Moses Chase. J. Pj. (tould, Rolx'rt 
McConigal, Morrison Leflingwell, L. D. Ilentlcy, Ri'v r Mliis- 
ton, Henry Torbush. William liurst, A. M. Allen. 

The eccentric Lorenzo Dow was a freijuent preacher in the 
scho<ilhouse period of the church. 

When Marllxirough was incoriwratcd as a town George 
the 111 was on the throne of England, Thomas JeflFerson was 
3 



34 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

president, Aaron Burr vice-president, Jonathan Trumbull of 
Lebanon was governor, Samuel Wyllys secretary, and John 
Porter of Lebanon was comptroller. 

The country town of Lebanon, with its war office, governor, 
and comptroller, the place where the affairs of the state and 
nation had been carefully studied and guarded, gave every 
small town in the state courage and ambition to labor for the 
future, and labor more zealously than they have, especially 
during the past fifty vears, for the upbuilding of the towns. 

Their fathers had come to these wilderness lands to make 
for themselves and their children a home, where they might 
enjoy in the largest way civil and religious liberty, leaving 
country and kindred and elegant ways of living for a wilderness 
and privation unknown to us. 

I stand for the country towns, and a chance for every boy 
and girl in them, barefooted and scantily clad and fed though 
they mav be, who faces the future with a determination to 
make a successful finish. 

We as children have never shown our gratitude to the 
founders of this town, many of whom were of the best blood 
of old England. We have ignored and forgotten, or never 
known, the great sacrifices made, and hardships endured, by 
these men and women whose first aim was to worship God and 
teach their children to do so. 

The area of the town at the time of its incorporation was 
eighteen square miles. 

Ten years after its incorporation four square miles were 
added from Glastonbury, the residents of the extreme southern 
part of the latter town finding Marlborough more convenient 
for church and town afifairs ; besides, Glastonbury had been 
especially severe in making their neighbors pay rates for four 
years after they began worshiping and paying rates with the 
new society of Marlborough, nearly bankrupting them b>- doing 
so. I have no doubt they owed them a grudge for doing so — 
I have. 

Among the petitioners for incorporation as an ecclesiastical 
society was Mr. David Bigelow of Colchester, who had previ- 
ously settled in Watertown, Mass., and had several kinsmen by 
the same name who had gone from Watertown to Marlborough, 
Mass. 



HISTOKICAI- ADDRESS. 35 

Mr. Divid liiijilow was ralrtl ai i\ m wlun sit «jtT fr«»in tin- 
west society of C'oIcIk'sIit to .\larllM»roii^h. lu-.irly double that 
of any otlur persmi set ofT from that society. ( )n account of 
his weahh and the larj^e inlhience he seems to have wielded in 
the s<»ciety it was jjuessed that he sujjijested the name, as there 
is a reconi of its havinij heen called New Marlhnrouj^h in his 
letter of dismissal fr«)m the west society in Colchester to the 
church in Xew .Marihoroui^h in 175-'. lie settled in Col- 
chester in 17,^). 

Mr. I. namm(»iid Trumhull I'.ivond the idea <>f Mr. I'ij^'e- 
low's havin|.j j^iven the name to the town. 

( )ur first settlers took their titles to land I'roin ilu- lndi;ni> — 
Turramuiiijus in the north. Joshua in the east, and the Mo- 
hetjans. with the I'onjiwonks and ( )wancco south, the name 
Tuhi havini: Iohjl,' hem i^iven to a section of land in the north- 
east. 

Some Indians lived in tin- homes of the early settlers, as 
well as .some slaves. The names n\ two slaves who un- 
doubtedly came in with Ichabod and I'.paphras Lord were 
Sybil and Tony. 

I have often heard of the Saddler > ordinary or tavern, 
hxrated in the north part of the town, but am unable to obtain 
anvthiiijij satisfactory of its history or hxration from persons 
now livini^. 

.\s early as I7if» .*^anuiel Loveland built a house on land 
now owned by .Mr. Daniel I'.lish: somewhat later Mes.'^rs. 
.Adams and Carrier cleared lan<l. which the family held imtil 
within the nuiiior\ of most of ns. in the south part of the 
town. 

The ea>t part of tin- town was first .sittled by the senior 
William I'.uell. who was fori most in securinjj release of the 
residents of that .secti«»n from the ecclesiastical society in He- 
bron, and in the incor|>oration of the l-'oclesiastical Society of 
Marlborough. P'zra Str«)np. Kzra Carter. Daniel IIosl\)rd. Icha- 
Imx! and l'lpa|>hras I^)nl, Davi<l Skinner, and Joel Foote were 
also early settlers on lands which later Ixcame a part of the 
town. 

My mother interested me as a child by telling me of a hound 
owned by the town, who had acce.«is to the homes of the people 



36 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

and expected to be fed wherever he called. Afterwards he 
would take a nap and pass on to his duties. The hound's name 
was Pomp, and his duties were to look after the foxes. 

The children enjoyed the feeding of the dog, and never dis- 
turbed him when asleep. He must have added quite a little 
pleasure to the monotonous life of the children of a hundred 
years ago. 

Mr. M. L. Roberts of New Haven writes : 

I find among some papers that I have a record that Thomas Carrier 
and Martha, his wife, with two sons, Richard and Andrew, came first 
to Andover, Mass., from some part of Wales. In 1692 Martha, the wife, 
was hanged for a witch, an account of which may be found, I am told, 
in the collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 

Some time after, Thomas and his two sons, Richard and Andrew- 
came to Colchester, and in i6g8 were landholders there. Thomas died 
j\Iay 16, 1735, aged 108 or log years. Richard Carrier was the pro- 
genitor of the Colchester families and Andrew of those who settled in 
Mcrlborough. 

A considerable number of the residents of this town went to 
Geneseo. in the state of New York, in 1805 and later. Among 
them were the following, who were dismissed from the church 
that year : Joseph Kneeland, David Kneeland and wife, Samuel 
Finley and wife, Deacon David Skinner and wife, several of the 
latter's sons going with him. 

They were all recommended to the Church of Christ in 
Geneseo. 

The church at that time was in good financial condition, 
contributing largely to charitable purposes, but now it is as- 
sisted financially by the Connecticut Home Missionary Society. 

A wall had been built about the old burying ground for 
some time previous to 1846, for at that date the town appointed 
a committee " to procure a wall on the front and north and 
south ends as far as the woodhouse, to be relaid in a decent 
manner, not higher when finished than the wall now is, and 
covered with flat stones on the top, and provide a suitable gate." 

How well we have followed their example is seen in the 
neglect of our ancient burying ground today. 

I regret to say that the poor of the town were for many 
vears auctioned ofif to the lowest bidder — and that no alms- 



lllSTOklCAL ADUkKSS. 37 

lnHisc ha> cvri" Iktii rsiahlishc*!. A workhouse, so called, 
for the shift less, was fre«|uemlN coinhitied with the place in 
which the piMjr were kept, and this. Icm), was a inovahle atTair. 

( )ne of the votes, which is much like several on the town 
records, reads as follows: " \ Oted, that tin- town p(X}r Ix* sold 
at auction t«> the lowest hidder. " 

The state ptMir were at one time kept in this town hy John 
S. Jones. 

Mrs. .\l)ii;ail Lord W <HM||iri(l.i;r, iln wkIhw of Richard 
Lord the third, hecaine the wife of the Rev. Tiniothv W'rxid- 
bridj^e of the old Center Church. Hartford. She was the jjjreat- 
granddauj.jhter of ICIiler William (i<M)d\vin of that church, and 
about the time of the petition for incorj)oration of the ecclesias- 
tical society at Marlhorouph. Mrs. W'oodhridge came into pos- 
session of the immense estate of her mother. .Mrs. h'lizalK'th 
Crow Warren Wilson. She invested, as did her mother, in 
lands in this vicinity, especially in that part of Colchester which 
was set ort to Marlborouj^h. 

Two of her sons hy Richard Lord. Kpaphras and Ichabod, 
came here and settle«l. I'oih were {graduates of ^'ale, and both 
married l»ulkele\s. the daughters of the Rev. John I'.ulkeley of 
Colchester. These two families brou|^ht into the town the 
bloo<| of LIder William (ioodwin. Thomas and Richard Lord 
of Ilartfor*!. an«l the Rev. iVter I'lulkeley of Conconl. Massa- 
chusetts. 

The orij^inal petition for incor|>oration of the ecclesiastical 
society is said by experts to be in the han<lwriting of T'paphras 
Lor<l. It was drawn at Hartford, possibly under the j^uiding 
hand of .Mrs. W'oodbridcfe, who contributed generously to the 
church here in its early days on accoimt of her two sons having 
located here. 

I camiol resist the temptation to add that Ixtth .Mr>'. W'oo<l- 
bridge and her mother were govl tinanciers. Mrs. Wilson for 
many years carrying on a kind of banking business, the busi- 
ness of her deceased husband, successfully. Mrs. W'oo<lbridge 
investe«l largely in lands in this <lirection. which passed to her 
sons here at her decease, who were also her executors. 

The names of many of the original settlers have di.sappeared 
from the rolls of the town, and some names have l)cconie ex- 



38 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

tinct. Its hospitable mansions are in ashes, and its well-cleared 
lands of even fifty years ago are covered with bushes. The 
beauty of its roadsides has been disfigured, vuitil its main street 
is dangerous to pedestrians. 

I have never lost faith personally in the resurrection of the 
town, and though today we probably could not muster 300 souls 
if our census was taken, my faith still holds, and I do not be- 
lieve we sit in the shadows of certain extinction as some think 
we do. Our beautiful lake, Tarraumggus, with its emerald set- 
ting is appreciated by a family well known for aesthetic tastes ; 
they have appreciated it many years. It has water courses and 
magnificent views ; nature has been bountiful with it. 

Those of us who represent the founders of this town must 
not allow their blood to become too diluted in our veins. 
Their perseverance and self-sacrifice ought to command the 
best there is in us to make this old town a perpetual monument 
to the men and women who have passed on. We need not rear 
a lofty monument to their memory, but we can beautify this 
main street and church surroundings and care for the sleeping 
place of our ancestors. We can do this without money; the 
work of our hands is all that is necessary. 

I trust I shall be pardoned for a reference to my own love 
for this old town. It is not new. I looked out upon the light 
here ; I trudged its highways and byways to its public schools ; 
I tramped its hillsides and played by its brooksides ; I knew its 
flora ; its birds and their haunts were pleasant features of my 
child life ; their first glad notes in the springtime and the last 
sad note of the frosty autumn constantly appealed to me. The 
moor near my old home, where the first frog voice was heard 
when winter's reign was over, was a joy, and I turn my steps 
this way, now that life's burdens are upon me, with a delight 
which is too sacred to be spoken, and when the working days 
are over I expect to see the sun go down behind the Marl- 
borough hills, and await the resurrection morning from its 
sacred soil, with my ancestors. 

CONTRIBUTED BY MR. WM. H. RICH^IOND. 
''Marlborough, Wiltshire Co., England, a municipal and par- 
liamentary borough of Wiltshire, England, is situated on the 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 39 

preat hiijliroail iKtwtcii London and Hatli, and distant 75 miles 
from tlic former, 32 from the latter, and 13 from Devizes. 
It stands on the left hank of the Kennet. a trihntary of the 
I'hanies, in 51 25' .\. lat., T^ 43' \V. lon^. It is an agricnl- 
tural centir. and has a weekly market. In the days of its 
prosperity forty-two puhlic coaches halted daily at its doors 
(its prototy|)e in its j)ahny days could lK)ast of two four-horse 
post-coaches at its doors), and it had a fair trade in corn and 
malt ; hut its traffic was t<i a preat extent diverted hy the open- 
ing of the ( ireat Western Railway, and it now carries on a 
very small trade in tanning, ropemaking, an<l malting. It con- 
sists mainly of a long, hroad street, terminated at one end hy 
St. .Mary's Church and the town hall and the other end by 
St. Peter's Church and the college. The municipal council 
consists of a mayor, four aldertuen. and twelve councillors, 
and the l>or(Migh returns one memher to Parliament. In 1881 
till- population of the municipal horough (area 186 acres) was 
3.343, and of the parliamentary honiugh ( area 4.665 acres ) 5.1?^ 
population. The name has been a fre(|uent matter for discus- 
sion. s«Mne declaring it to he the hill (bery) or fortress (bury) 
of Merlin the r.riton. others the Marl borough, in allusion to 
the surrounding soil, which, however, is chalk. .\ great Brit- 
ish mound exists at the southwest extremity <tf the town, and a 
castle was erected around it by William the Conqueror. This 
became a somewhat notable place. Henry I. kept Easter here 
in 1 1 10. ami Henry 11. granted "it t(^ I«)hn l^ickland. Henry III. 
hebl his last parliament here in 1267, and passed the " .^^tatutes 
of .Marleberye." Later the castle servecl as an ix'casional royal 
residence : it was |)robably dismantled «luring the War of the 
Rosis. The town was besieged and taken during the Civil 
Wars, anri a few years later ( 1653) was almost entirely con- 
sumed by tire. A large mansion was erected by Lord Seytiiour 
in the reign f>f t harles H. near the site of the castle, and this, 
after various vicissitu<les, was in 1843 convcrte»l into " Marl- 
Ixirough College," a puhlic scho«)l designe<l mainly for the 
ediicati<Mi of the sons of the clergy. A group of buildings — 
chapel. schfMiIs, <lifiing hall, racket courts, etc. — s«ion sprung 
up arouufl the original buibling. and tin- siIi<m>I ntimlKTed five 
hundred and eighty (580) in i88j 



40 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

Marlborough, a town in the U. S., in Middlesex Co., Mass., 
about 25 miles west of Boston. It lies in a fertile, hilly dis- 
trict, and contains a beautiful sheet of water of 160 acres, 
known as Williams Lake. Population, 1870, 8,474; in 1880, 
population 10,126. Marlborough, colonized by settlers from 
Sudbury in 1655, and incorporated in 1661, occupies the site 
of the Christian Indian village of Okommakamesitt. 



MILITAIO' HISTORY 

15V |<»ll \ 11. 1- I I.I I H. 



The Revolutionary record of Connecticut opens with her 
resj)onse to the historic Lexint^on alarm of April 19, A.D. 
1775. The Society of Marllxtrou^h at that time, which was 
surveyed antl ret^darly laid out in the year 1747, was embraced 
in the three l>oimdary towns of Colchester, ( llastonhury, and 
Hel)ron. Ilach contributed certain territory which later ( Au- 
gtist 20. A.I). 1)^)3) Incame an incorporated township. The 
military history of these towns commenced with the Lexinj^on 
alarm. Seventy ahle-lxKlied men marched for the relief of 
Boston from Colchester, fifty-nine from (ilastonbury, and six- 
ty-one from Hebron, makiiijc^ a total of one hundred and ninety 
men. 

The Society of Marllxirough contributed, without doubt, 
her share of this munlx'r, as such familiar names appear on 
the lists as Urown. I'.itjelow, Curtis, Carrier. F<x)t. Hall, 
Northam, I'helps, Skinner, and Talcott ; also .\aron Williams 
and Mlizur Dewey, who mijfht have l)cen a comiection of the 
present celebrated .Admiral Dewey, as Capt. Simeon iXnvey. 
the admiral's grandfather, was Ixirn at Hebron. I'onn., Au- 
gust 20, 1770. It is of interest also that Zachariah IVrrin, his 
grantlfather on his maternal side, who was a member of the 
Eighth Company. Twelfth Regiment Connecticut Militia, was 
also a Hebron man, l)orn March iS. 174" >. 

Prepared to a certain extent for such an alarm, m x\' 
used in the records of the day. " marched for the relief oi 
ton, " expresses alike the extent of their sympathies and the 
nature of the service intetKled. The res|)onse to the alarm was 
not through any official acti»Mi of the colony, but rather a volun- 
tary movement of the townsmen in defense of their rights and 
liberties. This circumstance or incident illuminates this early 
history with an illustrious example of devotion an«l patriotism. 

The young men of the Marli)orough Society also SCT^'cd 



42 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL, 

with the Continental Army during the RevokUionary War 
which followed, as it appears on record that the following resi- 
dents applied for service pensions during the fourteen years 
from 1818 to 1832, viz.: Ezra Blish, Isaac Curtis, Joel Fox, 
Peter Marjira, Zachariah Rollo, John Uxford, and Samuel 
Wrisley. 

Twenty-one years after the close of the Revolution, Marl- 
borough Society became an incorporated township. Then a 
period of nine years intervened, when the War of 1812 was pro- 
claimed, which proved to be a number of naval rather than 
land engagements. In reviewing the records it is shown that 
Capt. Enos H. Buell, a resident of Marlborough who had pre- 
viously served in the Connecticut Militia, and First Lieut. 
David W. Post and Second Lieut. Dennis Whitmore, with com- 
mendable energy and patriotism, enrolled eighty-six names. 
Some of these men became life-long residents of Marlborough 
and its vicinity, and their names are familiar to the present 
generation, viz. : Ensign, Manton Hammond ; sergeants, 
Epaphras Bulkley, Gibbons P. Mather, Aaron Washburn : cor- 
porals, Russell Brown, Henry W. Fanning, Russell Gates, 
Erastus Randall ; musicians, George Manard, Solomon Phelps ; 
privates, Joel Archer, Robert Baker, John Benham, George 
Bidwell, Epaphras Bigelow, Gordon Bliss, Roswell Bolles, 
Solomon Bolles, Edmon Brainard, Enos Brainard, Seley Brain- 
ard, Amasa Brown, Eleaza Carter, Charjes Carter, William 
Carrier, Uriah Chapman, John Cole, James Covell, Samuel G. 
Cullum, Ira Culver, Ruben Curtis, Samuel P. Cutting, Uhiel 
Dart, Elijah Dickenson, John Gladdis, Abel Gay, Oliver Glea- 
son, Darius Goodale, Andrew Halend, Ephraim Hall, Nathaniel 
Hammond, Odgen Harvey, Walter Hibbard, Enos Hollister, 
Allen House, Erastus Kelsey, Oliver Knowles, David Lane, 
Russell T. Loomis, Luther Loveland, Ruben Loveland, Alfred 
Lucas, John Lucas, Samuel Marshall, Henry W. Mather, 
Mansfield Mather, Cooper North, John C. Northam, Julius 
Northam, John Palmer, Joseph Peck, Enos Penfield, Abraham 
Phelps, Ashbel Phelps, Daniel Phelps, John Phelps, George 
Phelps, Roderick Phelps, William Phelps, Christopher C. Pot- 
ter, Nathaniel Purple, Lyman Ransom, Russell Ransom, Henry 
Sanders, Josiah Shattuck, Porter Smith, Eben Stone, Luther S. 



MII.ITAKV HISTORY. 43 

Talcott. Miiur W ;iMiii. Urniiiali Wrir. Janus Wt-ldfii, Mosi-s 
\\\>t. Ivusurll \\«st, Warnii \\\>t. A^a W hiu-. and William 
\\'\ll\s: also l)avi«l ( arriir mtvuI in the nj^ular army. 

Tlusr soldiers wire mustered at .Marlh* trough ("enter, ami 
the mark of their bayonets at their rendezvous is not nhliteratctl. 
The company serve<l with Capt. I'uell in Lieut. -C«)I. Timothy 
Shepard's regiment at or near New London from Jidy i8 to 
Septemher if». 1S13. .\fter peace was declared Capt. BucII 
continued in the service of the state and pfaine«l the title of ("Jen. 
lluell. iJy this appellation he was known in after years. Capt. 
JUiell's father. Col. Llisha Tiuell, some years previously estab- 
lished a m'un manufactory atid repair sh<ip. which was located 
fMi the Turnpike roa«l a few rods north and opposite the present 
Methoilist Church : whether or not this had any influence with 
the youni^ir lUiell. in turnini^ his mind to a military career, 
which in future years he displayed, we cannot say, but it is cer- 
tainly c«>nsistent with the maxim '" Eternal vij^ilance is the 
price of liberty." I'or it is c^enerally known had the Yankees 
been destitute of s.juns. or those they j)ossessed been out of re- 
pair, they would withotit doubt have lost their liberties in the 
near future. 

Thirty-five years i.iUi. <.r in the year 1S47. the .Mexican 
W ar opened. There were but few enlistments from Connecti- 
cut, the total beinjj about fifteen hmidred. Several towns in 
the state were not represented, but .MarllKtrouph was credited 
with one. Henry Dix<in, who died in the service. Then twelve 
peaceful years ensued, when the Civil War opened, and closed 
four years later, in .\pril. 1865. Hist«»rians decide this w.is 
the most desperately fouijht and flestrijctive war iti life nnd 
treasure of which history relates. 

Seventy-four residents of M.-irllxT. .u^ii p.niu ip.iK d m mis 
conflict, viz.: .*>herman 11. .Alijer. ."^tilman I'rainard, James 
Merry, (leorpe Mennett. Stephen G. Mollcs. Edwin L. Bennett, 
James 15. Mali. Klisha M. r.riRham. Timothy .Mien, William K. 
Chatsey. (lillK-rt (ovell, Samuel J. ( oleman, Charles L'ulver. 
I-afayctte Chapjuan, Ralph M. Culver. Harvey Dutton, Wolcott 
nickins«»n, J*>hn I*!. n>tnham. Elias Dickinson, Francis A. Dtit- 
ton. ( harles Ditzer, Jatius H. Kverett, (ie«>rj3;e I. Kmily. Klisha 
r.. Fieldintj. Dennison H. Finley, Daniel B. Finley, John H. 



44 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

Fuller, John Fluskey, William Green, Michael Gormon, Wil- 
liam F. Gerry, George W. Hutchins, Henry B. Haling, Francis 
Huxford, William G. Huxford, George H. Hall, Charles C. 
Jones, Jesse Hoadley, Alonzo Hoadley, William W. Hoadley, 
George Hodge, James Kelley, Robert Karnes, William G. Kel- 
ley, William W. Latham, Joel Latham, Charles Miller, Charles 
H. Miller, John Mason, James Noland, George L. Nichols, 
Sylvester Prout, David Penhallow, William N. Sackett, John 
Smith, Alph W. Southworth, Deming J. F. Sherman, John 
Sayers, JMichael Smith, Noah L. Snow, John Tompson, Henry 
Talnian, David Thomas, Dvvight C. Root, Newell W. Root, 
Frederick Watrous, David R. Wilson, Diodate G. Wilson, 
George H. Wilson, Charles H. Wilcox, Andrew F. Warren, 
and Charles F. Wilson. 

The organizations in which these men served represented 
three arms of the service, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, while 
our respected citizen John Coleman and Lucian Buell, now- 
deceased, served in the navy. Honorable mention is also made 
of our citizens George Lyman and Andrew J. Hanks, who 
rendered service in the war for the Union. Seventeen of these 
seventy-four soldiers received promotion from the ranks, which 
demonstrates that as a whole they served with fidelity, as the 
army regulations allow but sixteen officers in every hundred 
men enrolled. 

The casualties were : wounded, twelve ; killed in action, 
one ; died of disease and wounds, eight. It is evident that for- 
tune favored these men, for it is to be remembered the record 
shows that they took part, in more or less numbers, in all the 
battles from Bull Run to Appomattox, inclusive, and from At- 
lanta to the sea. 

Fifty-eight were volunteers and were credited to the quota 
of Marlborough ; one served by draft, Jesse Hoadley, who was 
disabled for life by that service ; six volunteers of the number 
were credited to the quotas of other towns. There were also 
nine substitutes, which almost coincides with the desertions, 
which were ten. They were alike foreign to the soil and sen- 
timent of Marlborough. The military enrollment or liability 
of Marlborough in August, 1861, was sixty-nine men. Fifty- 
eight voluntary enlistments was comparatively a large number, 
or within eleven of the total militarv strength. 



MILITAKV IIISTnRV. 45 

It is rdatcil that upon a cirtain public occasion during the 
war a speaker, in his address, alhided to the town where he 
resided as the l>aniur town of llic state in that it had sent to the 
inml niorr vohniteers accorchnp -to its hal)ility tlian any town 
in the state, when Governor Ituckiiij^ham arose (for correc- 
tion) and said that a nundur of thi- town> had responded nobly 
with vohuiinrs .md. no doubt, ihr gentleman's town was one 
of thiiu. but a small town in the south part of Hartford County 
heUl that distincti<in. Surely this was enditablc to Marllxir- 
«»u.i;h in tin- da\s of secession. 

In the war with Spain of i8«>S MarllM trough was not rcp- 
nstntitl by any residrnt. althouiih thne native-l)orn partici- 
pated. Charles ( ). Lr)rd and Howard L. Dickinson served with 
tlu- Connecticut X'olunteers. and David Wilson served under 
the assumed name of I'red Spencer with the I'. S. rep^dars in 
Porto Rico. 

And now at the close of the century for what these men 
fought, what tluy suffered and endure<l in common with thou- 
san«ls of their fellow -cotmtrymeu. from the historic .\larm 
down through the decades, has not been in vain. Civil lilicrty 
has been appreciated and enjoyed by those for whom they put 
their lives in jeopardy, ajid tbousajuls of the oppressed of 
earth have sought the land of lilnTty an<l its benefiting and en- 
lightening results. More th.in this, constitutional liln-rty has 
crossed the seas and embrace<l within its folds for betterment 
millions of the inhabitants of other lands, .lud stands forth 
trwlay to the gaze of mon.nrchies with a <lazzling spleuflor which 
cannot retar«l its humanizing and civilizing intlueiice for the 
happiness an<l well-being of man. 



BOUNDARIES OF THE TOWN. 



As the act of incorporation of the Town of Marlborough, 
passed by the General Assembly, October, 1803 (Private Laws 
Conn., Vol. II, page 1157), refers to the boundaries of the 
Society of Marlborough, which was incorporated in May, 
1747 (printed Col. Records of Conn., Vo]. IX, page 303), it is 
the provisions of the latter to which we must look for these 
boundaries. 

Referring to the letters upon the sketch on the opposite 
page, the description reads as follows : 

Beginning at tlie northeast corner of Middletown Jiounds, (A) and 
from thence a hne drawn northerly to the northwest corner of David 
Dickinson's land in Eastberry, (B) and from thence eastward to the 
northwest corner of a lot of land on which Daniel Chamberlain's barn 
stands, (C) and from thence to run near east on the north side of said 
Chamberlain's land until it meet with Hebron west line, (D) and from 
thence southerly to the northwest corner of a farm of land on which 
the Widow Lucy Talcott now dwells, (E) and from thence a straight 
line to the road at Daniel Root's, (F) and from thence on a straight 
line to the riding place over Fawn Brook, being at the northeast corner 
of the land of Joseph Phelps, junr, (G) and from thence southerly as 
the brook runs until it comes to the riding place passing from Joseph 
Kellogg's over said brook to the Pine Hill, (H) and from thence a 
straight line to Mr. John Adam's farm to the southeast corner by the 
country road, (/) including said farm, and from the most southerly part 
of said farm (/) a west line to Middletown east bounds, (K) then 
northerly by Middletown line to the first mentioned corner. (A) 

These were the original boundaries of Marlborough So- 
ciety, composed of parts of the towns of Colchester, Hebron, 
and Glastonbury, and later incorporated into the ^Fown of Marl- 
borough. 

An addition was made to this tract from Glastonbury in 
1813 (Private Laws Conn., Vol. II, p. 1158), and referring 



7a'j<i 



''z IS 



¥v >c 



Ai'-ts 




3MOwvi(Ma TMC EvouuT-iofw or tow 

/M/\R LB O ROUGH 



48 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

to the same sketch on previous page, a description of this addi- 
tion is as follows : 

Beginning at Marlborough northeast corner, on Hebron line, (Z?) 
thence northwardly on said line, three hundred and thirty rods to a 
monument on a bluff or clump of rocks ; (M) thence south eighty-eight 
degrees thirty minutes west, until it comes to a heap of stones in the 
north-west corner of John Huxford's land, and the south-west corner 
of the Hale lot, so called, now in possession of Chester Hills, (L) from 
thence southwesterly to a chestnut tree with stones about it in the north- 
east corner of Samuel F. Jones' land, and the north-west corner of 
John Finley's land, from thence southwardly on the east line of said 
Jones's land, Simon Bailey's land, and Caleb Brainard's land to Marl- 
borough line. {C) 

Another annexation was made from Glastonbury in 1859 
(Private Laws Conn., Vol. V, p. 305), embracing part of the 
house of Harry Finley. This house stood in the extreme 
northern part of the town, and upon the towai line, and the 
resolution of the General Assembly states " that for all tax- 
able purposes, and for attending town and electors' meetings, 
said Harry Finley shall and does hereby belong to the said 
town of Marlborough." 

The town enjoys the unique distinction of having been 
made up from three counties, Colchester being in New London 
county, Hebron in Tolland county, and Glastonbury in Hart- 
ford county, to which the town of Marlborotigh was annexed 
at time of incorporation. 

The boundaries of the parts of Colchester, Hebron, and 
Glastonbury within the present territory of Marlborough are 
as follows : 

The north end of Colchester (from A to on diagram) is 
described in Vol. J, p. 89, Colchester Land Records, as es- 
tablished April 6. 1756: 

Beginning "at a heap of stones (A) being the northeast bound 
mark between Middletown and Glasonbury, and took the course of 
divident line between said towns Middletown and Glasonbury, and 
found ye course to be east about one degree north, and then began at 
said heap of stones (A) and run east the same course between sd. 
Glasonbury and Colchester to ye highway leading to Colchester (O). 
being one mile- and one hundred and fifteen rods, and have erected 
monuments on the line every forty rods." 



TOWN HOL'NDAKIES. 49 

Tlu liiu between Colchester ami Hehrtm (from / to O on 
<liaj^rain) was settle<l In the ( ieiieral Court in May, 1716, 
(printed Colonial Kecords, \'ol. \', page 559) as follows: 

Brt^linning " at the place in Jeremy's River where the road from 
Giassonliury to New I^nd'iu p.issctli the said river, and from tlicncc 
iiMrtluvesiuard the Ixnnuls l)et\\een said towns sliall be the said road as 

i>i\v nsfil." 

This is further descrihed in \'oI. 1. |)a,t;e ,V'5. Hil'ron land 
records, as established May 17. 17JJ: 

A country road of six mds wide between L«>lche>ier and Hebron 
from a river called Jereinies River to (jiasingbery Inunids ; beginning 
tirst at the alM)vc sai«l river at the river six rods wide, so nnniinK north- 
erly l>etween N'allianiel Dunham's and James Robard's land six rods 
wide to Rol)ard's northeast cc»rner l)Ounds. there six rods wide; from 
thence northwesterly betwixt Hebron and Colchester up the hill north- 
westerly to the top of the hill six rods wide, three rods each side of 
the path, the southwest side of the path a point of rocks, the northeast 
side a white oak plant, stones almut it ; from thence northwest six 
rods wide to alntut two rods northward of Thomas Day's barn, there 
a heap of stones three rods southward of tlie path and a heap of stones 
three rods northward of the path where it nf>w goes; fmm thence west 
and by north six rods wide, three rods each side of the path, to the 
fating of the hill west, there a walnut stadle three rods northeast of 
the pith, stones al>out it, and a walnut plant three rods southeast of the 
I>ath, stones about it ; from thence northwest six rods wide to Thomas 
Day's northwest corner lK)nnd ; from thence northwest and by west 
six rods wide to a white oak tree marked on the south side of the path 
and a black fiak tr«c marked on the easterly side of the path; from 
thence northwest six rods wide to a white oak staddle. stones alx>ut it. 
by a flat rock on the southwest side of the path, and a white oak staddle 
on the northeast side of the path, stones about it; from thence north 
six rods wide to a white oak tree marked on the west side of the path 
and a ledge of rocks on the northeast side of the path ; from thence 
northwest ami six rods wide, three rods each side of the path, to a white 
oak sta<ldle on the snuthwest side of the path which is lien DilMrll's 
northeast lx>und. and a white oak tree marked on the northeast side of 
th near I""aun Itrfxik ; from thence northwesterly across Faun 
to the Riding place at Hl.ick I^dge River six rods wide, three 
rods each side of the path as the path now goes; from thence north- 
westerly to a rock' stones u|K)n it on the southwest side of the path 
and a heap of stones on the north side of the path ; from thence 
nortlusrNtcrly six rods wide to a white oak tree marked at the north- 
east t-ml 'if the Rattlesnake r<Kk on the southwest side of the path, and 
at a white o.-ik tree marked on the northeast side of the patl- 
4 



50 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

thence northwesterly six rods wide a straight Hne to a white oak tree, 
stones about it, on the east side of the path which is Mr. Bulckly's 
south corner bound and a wahiut staddle on the easterly side of the 
road a little north of a rock called Prats farm ; from thence northwest 
to a white oak tree, marked, stones about it. Mr. Bulckly's north corner 
bounds on the westerly side of the path and a black oak tree, marked, 
on the east side of the path ; from thence six rods wide three rods each 
side of the path now goes to Glasingbery bounds. (O) 

This point (0) is southwesterly from and near the present 
residence of Daniel Blish, near the brook which crosses the 
highway south of his house, and is where the south line 
of Glastonbury crossed the old Hartford and New London 
country road. This road ran upon the east side of the pond, 
and past the residence of Daniel Blish, joining the present 
turnpike near where it crosses the stream in Dark Hollow. 
A part of this road from the east side of the pond to a point 
south of Daniel Blish's, and another section from the cross- 
road north of his house to Dark Hollow, is now discontinued. 

The line between Glastonbury and Hebron, easterly from 
to A^ and northerly from N to E on diagram, is not 
easily determined at the present time, as no survey of the 
same is known to be in existence, but the part from to A^ 
was doubtless an extension of the line A to 0, which was 
described in 1756 as " east about one degree north " (Col- 
chester Land Records, Vol. I, page 89), and the part from 
A'^ to E is an extension of the present north part of the line 
between Hebron and Marlborough (M to £), which was de- 
scribed in 1804 as " south eight degrees east '" (Hebron Land 
Records, Vol. XL page 210). 

The corner A^ is located as the southeast corner of land 
now owned by Jonathan N. Wood of Heloron ( IMarlborough 
Land Records, Vol. V, page 301), and near the "Old Fox 
Road," a mile or more north of the present main road from 
Marlborough to Hebron. 

This was the southeast corner of a lot laid oitt to Capt. 
Ephraim Goodrich of Wethersfield, January 28, 1728-29, " in 
the Five Mile at the southeast corner of said Glassenbitry," 
one of the bounds " being the southeast corner of said Glas- 
senbury bounds " ( Glastonbury Land Records, \^ol. IV, page 



TOWN IIOl NOAKIES. 5I 

3). This laiul uiuKr various (Uscri|)tions, and in pieces of 
varxiu}^ size. althi>ii.i,'li preserviiij; the i<leiitical simiheast cor- 
ner, has passed irom the r»ri}^iiial owner alK)ve through the 
folIoNvinj^ owners to the present, namely: David (jfxwlrich. 
(apt. David Ihihhard. Ixith of ( il.istonhnry. N'oah I'helps of 
Ilehrt)n. Colonel TlKmias Jitch of Hostou. William iJratlle and 
wife of tamhridge. Daniel llosford of Hehron, Roger Dewey, 
John Dewey, both o{ (ilastonhnry. Jojiathan N'ortham of Col- 
chester. ( )liver Xortliam. Isaac I'.. Knell, both of Marll)orouph. 
Michael Allen and Jonathan X. WVmmI. IkiiIi of Hebron. 

It seems that the western l)onndary (»f liehron upon (ilas- 
tonhnry was originally su|)i)osed to nm northerly from the 
north end of Colchester and Hebron line. (O) as the western 
Ixnmdary of the original legacy to Sayl)r<K)k men (Hebron), 
by the will of Joshua Sachem, executed I'ehruary 29. 1^>75-7^J 
(Colony Records of Deeds, etc.. \'ol. H. page 130. in the 
Secretary's office), is described "abutting westward to the 
insight of Hartford ami of Hartford bounds." This was 
further detine«l by the committee of the ( ieneral .\ssembly in 
171.^ "to be at the distance of eight miles east from the great 
river." In 1722 a committee '' extended (ilassenbury alniut a 
mile and (|uarter on the south side further east than tlv ir 
former southeast corner, which takes out of Hebron into (Jlas- 
senbur\ alxnit 2.200 acres <if land." This was done so as to 
all«»w to ( ilastonhnry the full conteius of eight nnles and twenty 
nxls east of the ( ireat River, which makes a large IkmuI to the 
eastward opposite the town, and this measurement of 1722 was 
made at its eastermuost i)oint. This accounts for the pn*- 
jection of the southeai^ corner of (ilastonhnry into Hebron. 
The particulars are found in Towns and I^aivls. \'ol. \ I. d«Hr. 
i8<». in State Library, which is a petition from the town of 
Hebron tu the (ieneral Court regarding the triangular piece of 
lainl south of (ilastonhnry ami east of C*<»lchestcr. 

The only survey of the town IxHrndaries of comparatively 
nuKlern date, is that between Hebron and Marllxirough. an<l 
is of April. 1S04. and found in Hebron I^nnd Records. \'ol. 
XI. page 210. "Courses given as the magnetic needle now 
reads, the variation being 5 deg. 45 min. westerly." Begin- 
ning at the northeast corner of Marllwrough at pile of stones, 



52 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

thence south 8 deg. east 41 rods, to northwest corner of Tal- 
cott farm, thence south 54 deg. 45 min. east 332 rods, to road 
east of Samuel Fielding's, thence south 22 deg. 25 min., east 
500 rods, to " the wading place " at northeast corner of Shaw 
farm, thence as the brook runs to " the wading place " north 
of Moses Kellogg's, thence south 6 deg. 45 min. west 530 rods, 
to walnut upon Colchester line. 

Thus I have endeavored to embody in a brief sketch such 
items of information as I have been able to find concerning the 
boundaries of the town. I can hardly hope that all the records 
now extant have been examined, but I trust that this article will 
put in a permanent and convenient form the information, which 
in its original is widely scattered. 



^- G.X3>Ji^SJL4 - 



RI.WINISCENCES, I^.V IIAIM TAI.CoII 



As I am asked to speak to you on fvents of the past, and as 
p>od sivjlit with ine is a thinp of the past. \<m will allow ine to 
use ■' helps to read " of a former ji^eueration. jrr.-mdf.itluT's 
spectacles (heavy brass franus and jointed). 

When a person is announcerl to speak on a },'reat occa>;on 
like this, the hearers naturally wish to know who he is and 
where he came from. I came to this town for my residence in 
the year iStxi. in the person of my father, .M<iseley Talcott, 
then tweiUy-one years of ajje. who once on a time in I'oston, 
when asked in a |)nl)lic place for his name and address, wrote, 
on the spur of the momeiU and without i)revious thouirht, 
" Moseley Talcott, a sprijr of the balm of ( lilead, a Hebronitc 
of the tribe of (lad, formerly of I'umptown, lately of the town 
that adjournecl Thankssjivint; for the want of molasses." The 
explanation is: My father, a son of (iad Talcott, was Ixirn in 
Gilead. town of Hebron, nicknamed Pumptown because of the 
bursting; into many pieces of a lop^ pump, which the citizens 
harl boiMul with iron and wo«iden h(X)ps. and used in place of 
a cannon in cclebratinpj the capture of Louisburjjj from the 
I'Vench in \~>,^. I'arbour's History of Comiccticul says: " The 
fame of the exploit spread over the whole worKl and was writ- 
ten in the C hronicles of the Kinps of Enj^lancl. (leor|;je the 
Third, in the plenitude of his ijoodness. provided a substitute, 
made f>f pure brass,. that his faithfull subjects mi^ht ever after 
sinjj pa'ans to his victorious army. This mark of liis Majestie's 
favor, however, was lost in passinij the Atlantic Ocean." 

The section of this town which my father settled in \\.i> 
then a part of Colchester, which town. " at a legal town meet- 
inij held Octolxr 2<). 1705. voted to put over ThanksxjivinK 
♦services and festivities from the first to the second Thursda\ 
in XovemlKT." Tradition says there IxMUg a deficiency of mo- 
lasses was the reason. The roads were in such bad condition 



54 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

they conld not haul freight from New London. The mode of 
hauHng was primitive. For want of carts or wagons, they used 
long, stout poles. The forward ends were attached to the horse, 
or to the yoke of the oxen ; the ends carrying the load dragging 
behind them on the ground were connected by cross ties, and 
upright stakes kept the loading from rolling off in the rear. 
I have seen such apparatus in use on hilly farms in the West 
Indies. At funerals the hearse, so indispensable now, was not 
much in use. The coffin, except for long distances, and some- 
times then, was borne by relays of men, sometimes on their 
shoulders and sometimes on biers or poles lashed together for 
the occasion. The first bier used in this parish was built by 
my father for use at the funeral of his wife in September, 1822, 
and was the only one here for many years. A few years ago I 
saw the broken remains of such a bier lying on the ground in 
the rear of the old cemetery near by. One hundred years ago 
not a house in town was painted white, either inside or out. 
Yellow, red, or unpainted wood were the colors, and when, 
early in the century, one was painted white, inside and out, it 
was a more engaging topic of conversation Sunday noons than 
the doctrines of election, free moral agency, or infant damna- 
tion, which in those days were vigorously preached ; to say 
nothing of discussions at other times as to the durability of 
white paint, its coming into general use, etc. About that time 
a new schoolhouse was built in our mother town of Hebron 
and painted white. That innovation has been known ever since 
as the " White Schoolhouse " in Gilead. I have been told that 
it was the first schoolhouse in Connecticut painted white on the 
outside. In these first one hundred years several new high- 
ways have been opened, the principal one, the Hartford and 
New London Turnpike, coming straight as possible from the 
old site of the Congregational Church in East Hartford, down 
through Glastonbury, Dark Hollow, once called a " wild, ro- 
mantic place," and where, on the mountain overlooking it, is 
said to have lived for several years an English gentleman who 
had married a daughter of one of the governors of Connecticut. 
Foreign gentlemen early recognized the beauty and wealth of 
American ladies. In this hollow still lies the rock whereon the 
contractor of the road, a retired clergyman, a native of this 



KEMINISCENCES. 55 

louii. laid liis coat, sayiiij;. ' Lie- tlurt-. <livinity, while I give 
this mail a thrashiiij^." Ami tluii Ik- .souikII) thraslud into 
silence the ualkini; (jeleijate who up to that time persistently 
interfered with the huildini; of the road. Then the mad, 
cominj; through factory villaj^e. west side of the lake, then be- 
tween the .\letho<list C hurch and the famor.s old tavern where 
so much work has been done to make this celebration a j^rand 
success, then past this church, and on to j^oo<l old .New London 
in as straight a line as the Czar's railroad frotn .St. I'etersburj^h 
to Moscow. 

■ If a curved line is a line of beauty, and a thinj^ of beauty 
is a joy forever." then how happy must our fathers have been 
when they followed the old circuitous route from below us out 
to the old Deacon Stnmij Homestead, then in by the tavern, of 
ctHirse. uj) by the east side of the .Methodist Church, past my 
dear old birthplace, which is protected in front by j^^ranite post 
and w roupfht-iron fence built in 1820. and the Cheney cottaijc 
on the east side of the lake, then around the northern end of 
the lake, and in some devious way to South ( llastonbury and 
so on to Hartford. The route was very crooked ; many por- 
tions loni; since fenced in ami c:iven up to pasturage and f>ther 
uses. 

While we are known as the smallest town in the state. \vc 
are comfortrd in the thought that our fathers were not im- 
poverished by taxation (unless they wt»rked out in highway 
repairs the jjreater part of their taxes), as the inscription on 
this ol«l Scotch threa<l box, the stroni; box of the town, would 
se»-m to prove: " This box contained the towns money, thirty- 
two M-ars in succession. :tud was relieved ( )ctober «;. 1840." 
My father was treasurer those thirty-two years continuously, 
and did not abscond. The auditor's release is inside. ( )fticiil 
service was not always expensive. ( )nce. previous to his serv- 
ice as treasurer, at the close of a state election, bids were made 
for carrying the official returns to Hartford. ( )ne man ofTere«l 
to do it for $5.00. others for a less sum; one " ofFcrcd to per- 
f«>rm the service for the honor of it." Moseley Talcott, not to 
In- outdone, offered ti> do it for the honor of it and t«> pay'thc 
town two cents for the privilege. His bid was accepted, the 
money paid, and receipt taken. Ihe C S. government sonic- 



56 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

times taxed them for " riding on wheels." I have three re- 
ceipts given, one in 1814, 181 5, and one in 1816, by the Col- 
lector of the Fourth Collection District of Connecticut: (2) 
Two dollars each " for the privilege of using a (2) two-wheeled 
carriage called a chaise, and the harness therefor, for the term 
of one year each, under the laws of the United States." Some 
of these licenses were printed for two dollars, some for seven. 
The population of the town may be small, but the people not so. 
At regimental and brigade drills, the militia from Marlborough 
were styled " sons of Anak," only one or two of them at one 
time being less than six feet in height. You remember the re- 
port of the twelve spies sent out by Moses, " And there we 
saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants, 
and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were 
in their sight." One militia captain on the day he first drilled 
his men could not keep them in line or step together. He dis- 
missed them for a few days. In the intervening time he used 
his team and plow in making furrows between the east line 
of the town street in front of his own mowing lots and the 
roadway which ran near the west side of the street. When 
the company was called together again, my father issued his 
commands, marched the company several times over those fur- 
rows, with the result of their learning to keep in step and good 
alignment. He commanded a well-drilled company for several 
years. 

Men and sons of men great in their works have been born 
here. 

Col. Elisha Buell, who was a repairer of muskets for Revo- 
lutionary soldiers, lived and had his shops a little north of the 
old hotel. He was a fine workman in iron and steel. A horn- 
handled carver and fork, which he made and presented to my 
father, can be seen in the room of antiques. His son, Gen. 
Enos Buell, was a captain in the war of 1812, and that company 
was never mustered out from the United States service. They 
were marched home and dismissed until called together again. 
They never received any pay whatever, until a few years pre- 
vious to the death of the last half-dozen or so, when they each 
made affidavits of service, their statements proven at the war 
office in Washington, and thereafter they received a pension. 



REMIN'ISCENCRS. 57 

Soiiu- ma\ say tlu v win- not iiuitlr<l to much, for in the lan- 
}?ita}^c of thi'ir regimental paymaster, " We marched twice to 
N'ew London, encamped, and did nothing under the Hpht of 
the sun but eat tish ami oysters." 

I. Lord .Skinner, as he wrote his name, was a minister of 
j.jreat ahilily, a character, a man who accompUshed things. In 
his parish was a very troublesome man, one who drlij;hted to 
contradict an<l amioy people, ministers especially, and would 
not be persuaded to cease, until one day, when a numbtr of 
neijLjhl)«>rimj pastors, »)n the invitation of Mr. Skimier, were as- 
seml)led in the reception room for a private conference, this 
man persisted in beinij present, his insultinij atmf)yance was 
imJKarable. and tluy could not persuade him to cease. Mr. 
Skinner resorted to the art of l)o.\injT, one of his coUepc accom- 
|)Iishments, with stich j^ood eft'tct that the man was tlmroutjhly 
hmnbled and was ever after a peaceable man. I'.ut Mr. .Skin- 
mr. feelintj that he had " disijraced the cloth," resi^ied his 
pastorate, and never enterr<l the pul|>it aijain. W'luii he left 
the ministry he went to Hartford and built what is known as 
the ■ ( )ld Pavilion House," No. "jz Wooster Street, at that time 
a larvae and fine resilience. His style of livinc^ and ((luipaj^e 
exciteil the admiration of the old aristocracy. He built the 
\\'in<lsor Locks canal, was chief contractor on the Hartford and 
New London turnpike Movintj to New ^'ork. he l)ecamc one 
of the nmst prominent contractors on public works. 

The Kill)ourns, who settled early in Keokuk, Iowa. Wil- 
liams in C'hicapi. were prominent men in business and in olti- 
cial life. The rdtons. who settled near Syracu.se, were prom- 
inent aijriculturists. Jonathan Kilbourn, who lived in the 
second house north of this, was the inventor of the iron screw 
and many other tools. He <lied ( )ctober 14, 1785. and was 
burieil in Colchester, where many of our first residents were 
buried. 

The name of Ini^raham is a familiar one, and remintls us of 
clfH-ks. Elias Inpraham, liorn in 1805, went with his brother. 
Andrew, to Bristol in 1825. where, for sixty years, or until his 
decease, he was enpatjed in the manufacture of those famous 
Yaiikee chx^ks, dependintj on which no church or schoolhouse 
bell has since darc<l to rini; until they g^ave the time. 



58 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

The name of Bigelow is one I remember with affection, for 
the loving care bestowed by one on three little ones, whose 
mother left us when I was scarce three months old. The son 
of her father's brother, our chairman today, has honorably 
served his country at home, and also as ambassador to the gov- 
ernment of France. A son of his, also, is a well-known writer. 
Our friend Richmond of Scranton, Pa., who proves his loyalty 
to his native heath by almost yearly visits here, has won dis- 
tinction for himself by a successful business life and in contri- 
butions for the papers. 

Samuel Colt, the inventor of repeating firearms, lived some 
two years at the north end of this street. I once heard him 
say that he was here " taught the art of farming and of good 
behavior." My father said he was a hard colt to break in. 

Kathrens, an Irish cobbler, who was impressed by the Brit- 
ish into their army during the Revolution, with several im- 
pressed comrades, deserted the British at the first opportunity 
after landing on our shores. He said that " the time to get rid 
of a bad officer was on a retreat." At the time that he and sev- 
eral of his impressed comrades deserted they were on a retreat. 
" The colonel was riding nearly in front of us. A dozen guns 
besides mine were pointed at the colonel, at the same time, and 
he fell from his horse dead. I don't know whose bullet hit 
him, but he never troubled us any more." He soon settled at 
the north end of this street. He liked this country and heartily 
believed every word in the Bible, except that story of Samson 
catching three hundred foxes and tying firebrands to their 
tails, etc. He declared that to be too much for any man's belief. 

We cannot boast of canals, trolley cars, or railroads run- 
ning through our town, but time was when Marlborough was 
noted for sending the biggest loads of wood, drawn by the 
longest teams of oxen, to Middle Haddam for shipment to 
New York, before our townsman Richmond, of Scranton, and 
his friends shipped their " black diamonds " to New York so 
freely, and killed the business. Where are those teams now, 
those cattle on a thousand hills? Alas! now 'tis almost a 
thousand hills to a cattle. 

^ If hotels had always kept a register of people stopping 
with them, even though it were but for a meal and the toddy 



REMINISCENCES. 59 

of tlu' t'.itlKiN. tluii from sdim- closi-t. i>r tin- ilimj^roii ■ next 
llu' roof of our AiuMtiit Iini,"' niij^'lu Ik- hrou^hi tin- names of 
main' proniiiu'nl tnni who have stojjpi-d tln-rr for a meal, as 
tlu'v journivctl l)\ staj^e or otlierwisc IkIwhii c»iir C'a|)itol City 
ami tin- City of Whalers on the Somul. 1 havi- luar«l a man 
who saw them at the table say that two proidcnts. Monroi- and 
Jackson, have stopped tlure to dine. ( )ne day. when the town 
officials were holdini; a session at my fatluTs lionM-. word came 
that President Jackson was " havinj^ dinner at the tavern." 
( )nr moved a recess and a short call on the President of the 
Itiitecl States: another objected, sayini; he "would not go a 
rod to see that old rascal. " Party feeling ran hij^h in those 
<lays. ( )ur historian says that (leu. W ashin;.jton is re|)ortcd 
t<. have passed through this town on his way from .Middletown 
to Lebanon. If he ever did he would have received as royal 
a welcome as once on a solitary ride to Lebanon. "A I)ov who 
had heard that ( ieneral Washington was to pass that way went 
out to meet him. as he supposed at the head of his army. In- 
stead of that, he met a man alone on horseback, of whom he 
in(|uire(I if (ieneral Washington was coming. The general re- 
plied ■ 1 am the man.' In astonishment the boy. not knowing 
what to d«> or say. pulled ofT his hat and with great violence 
threw it at the feet of the horse, running back at the same time, 
at full speed, and crying at the top of his voice. ' Ciod .M- 
mighty bless your .Majesty ! ' ' 

( )f the eleven pastors mentioned in * Historical Notes" in 
the Church .Manual, that of the Kev. Hiram P.ell is the first of 
my ac<|uaintance. an estimable man. and always a welcome 
guest at my father's house. I'Vom what I can learn, I think 
that his inmiediate predecessor. Kev. C'hauncey Lee. O.!).. who 
came from C'olebrook, C'ojui., was the most distinguished as a 
preacher, and an author of soiue repute, writing thefilogical 
liooks an<l school Ixxiks — an arithmetic. "The American Ac- 
comptant. " 17^7. He also was a noted wit. which (pialitv was 
often used to g(M)d advantage. l"or soiue years pri«»r to his 
coming here a flouri.shing bachelors' Club had existed, its mem- 
IxTs belonging in this and surrounding towns. ( )n the occa- 
sion of their annual meeting an<l ban«|uet. they were accustomed 
to haviiTtt an address from some prominent .speaker. Dr. Lee 
was invitefl to speak at what proved to be their last annual 



60 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

meeting. For this occasion he wrote a poem, which was so 
complete in its description of the lonely, incomplete life of a 
bachelor, and his wit was so incisive, that they soon disbanded, 
and many of them songht comfort in matrimony. I can recall 
only two lines, and am now unable to find anyone who remem- 
bers more : 

And these bachelors, they have no heart within, 
But one enormous gizzard. 

Dr. Lee was also a good workman with edge tools, as this 
specimen, carved by him, with only a pocket knife, from a stick 
of maple, will testify. He made it while boarding with my 
father, and gave it to him. The clergy have no ti'se for such 
things now, so I will tell yon what it is, if you will not tell any- 
one. It is a toddy stick and sugar spoon combined. 

At the time of the boarding of Dr. Lee and wife at my 
father's house, the ministers held their ministers' meeting there. 
• He set the decanters and glasses on a sideboard, as was the cus- 
tom in those days. The last time he set them on, and soon after 
the doors were closed that the clergy might be alone, he heard 
a vigorous pounding on the table. Entering the room he be- 
held the reverend moderator standing beside the table, and, 
with majestic sweep of the hand and solemn tone, exclaiming: 
"Capt. Talcott, take these things hence, take them hence, and 
set them out no more for us." 

. CHURCH BUILDINGS. 

The first building was, to my youthful eyes, a great struct- 
ure — two stories high, nearly square, two rows of large win- 
dows of many small lights, with a false semi-circular window in 
the front peak, painted black. The great, round-topped win- 
dow, about in the center on the north side, with narrow and 
shorter windows, one on each side and close to it, and back of 
the high pulpit, gave light to the minister's page, cooled his back 
in winter, and glared with blinding eft"ect on my eyes, as we sat 
directly in front, and looked up at the minister. 

Intentions of marriage were required by statute law to be 
piiblished from the pulpit Sundays previous to the mar- 

riage, or by notice on the public signpost weeks pre- 

vious. 



REMINISCENCES. 6l 

( )ii I UK" occasion a proniiiKiit citizen was married on Sat- 
urday (.viniiii^. < >ti Siinday he- introdticcd his new wife at 
churtfli to the peopli- as he njet the in. A tnagistrate notified 
the :;roi>in tliat he was liahK ti> |)rosecntic»n for not having 
complied with the law in tiiviiivj pnhlic notice. The groom 
contin<led that he had. The magistrate was tinally satisfied 
l)y heing le<l to the signpost and shr)wn the notice, which was 
written in very small letters on white pa|)er. and pasted on to 
the white signpost uilh uliitc u.il\r>«. It h.nl isiap((l all oh- 
scrvation. 

There were large tjonhlc ili.t.r> i>ii the east, soiiih. and west 
si<k's. The exterior gave evidence of sometime having heen 
painted wliite. There was no steeple and no hell. The ancient 
style of S(|uare pew was in nse. and in former times the people 
Wire seated hy a cojnmittee according to their rank and dignity. 
(I am told that the last church in New Kngland to give up 
that custom of seating was in Xorfolk, Comi.. hetween 1S70 
and 1876.) Then the seniors all sat helow. the children in the 
galleries. an<l families not t<igether. These galleries extended 
aroun<l the three sides of the house. The good people, with 
pmper regar<l for their feet, hrought foot stoves, which were 
filled with live coals from the houses of the neighbors, or from 
the hig. s(|uare stove at the west end of the house, near the en- 
trance. I can now alm«)st hear the clang of that stove dtmr. 
as it opened and closed when they wanted more hot cods. 
There luing no chinniey when the hou.se was built, the stove 
was put in many years later, and the pipe was carried out 
through the window. I have clear recollections of having to 
sit near the wood-pile one winter, and how my ears an<l coat 
sleeves were warmed by the paternal s(|uee/e Ixvause I ma<lc 
too much noise with the w«iod. 

l*"or .some years after the frame was covered the atteiulants 
sat on benches and in chairs. The plastering ami stpiare pews 
and galleries were added as the people pmspered. and as " the 
first shall l)c last " it was finished by laying the foundation 
stones last. rei)lacing the temporary walls and piers on which 
it had so long rested. liegun in 1749 and finished in 1803; 
fifty-four years in building. Herod's Temple was forty-six 
vears. 



62 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

As you enter the room beneath this, on the south side, you 
will pass through the same door, latch, hinges, and all, that 
served at the entrance on the south side of the old house. Win- 
dows from the old house admit the light; in front, the desk 
and paneled railing from the old house ; and over the center, 
attached to the ceiling, the bottom of the ancient sounding 
board, which served to send the preacher's voice down into the 
ears of the hearers instead of going straight upward, out of the 
hearing of the worshipers. Around the room on the sides, be- 
low the windows, the ancient panel work or wainscoting, and 
through the room supporting the floor of this, the posts or 
pillars which supported the galleries of the old house. 

I remember my father insisting that the lower room, or 
basement, should be finished with material from the old house. 
He did not wish to see anything new in it. 

This building, the second on this spot, has more of interest 
to me than the first one, because of my father's interest in it ; 
not a member of the church, but an active, zealous worker in 
the society. IVIr. Truesdale, the builder, spent much time at 
my father's house, working and consulting with him on the 
plans and specifications for it. Such was his activity that he 
seemed to me to be the chief man in it. 

The day of the raising of the frame was a great day here, 
and then the feast for the workers which followed. The tables 
were set on the lawn of the parsonage, the house next north 
of the old burying ground, and they were loaded with eatables, 
furnished by the good women of this parish, and their labors 
and interest in the whole work should not be forgotten. Such 
raisings and such feasts following them are not seen now. I 
have a faint recollection of the starting of my father and others, 
with their teams, for Chicopee to bring home the church bell, 
which was to notify the people that Pastor Bell was ready to 
proclaim glad tidings to all. Also the arrival home, late Sat- 
urday evening, and then next morning going out to the great 
barn to see the doors wide open, the bell suspended by rope 
and tackle from the timbers overhead, and the tolling thereof, 
to let the people know that Marlborough Church had a bell; 
aiid, as Thomas Hood said when a death occurred, " they told 
the sexton and the sexton tolled the bell." 



REMINISCENCES. 63 

In rii,\irtl tt» tlu- oltl rilitn.*'. I\«v. Mr. lUII. in "Historic 
Notes," (.'luircli Manual, says: 

The «>l«l liiiu>c having l>ocomc cold, uiu>iiiii..ii.iiiir, and unplcnsaiu 
as a house of worsliip, tluTc was an increasing <lcsire for several years 
in llie niincis «»f a K^cat part of ilic society to erect a new luniso. Hut 
no erticient action was taken in reference to it till January, 1S41, when 
Captain Mo>eley Talcott drew up a subscription pa|»er. and, by a ^rcal 
and praiseworthy perseverance, assisted by some others, amidst many 
discourancments. was successful in obtaining subscriptions sufficient to 
warrant the undertakinj?. 

AlM>ut a year from the time the paper was circulated tlie new eclificc 
was an accomplished fact, at an ap|>ro\iniatc c<»st of $2,(100. 

It was (Icdicatid March 16, !S4J. 

I havt' hrfui^lit with inv today ilu' oriijitiai loimact for all 
alM»vc the hasiincnt story, of date April *), 1S41. sipticd by 
.Anjjfustns Trucsdak- on the one part, and .Moscley Talcott. 
Win. Phelps. .Mvan .\orthani. .\ntjustns Ulish. and !•'. H. 
Watkinson. s<xMety conunittee, of the other part, in which .Mr. 
Trnesdale " aijrces to Imild a meetitii; Imt'st. <iii the site of the 
old house, or within two rods thereof, accordin;^ to the an- 
nexed specifications, for $2.f>oo.oo. to he conn>leted hv the V'th 
<lay of XoveinlKr ni\t. " 

I have also brought with ine niy fatiier s account as treas- 
urer of the hnililitiu conunittee. which ij'vcs the cost of this 
huildini; : 

Trnesdale contract. ...... $2,600.00 

Extra w«»rk on the dome, tinnine. iiiidint:. etc.. also on 

other parts of the building. 1057S 

Furniture and carpet, ■ ij.mki 

Expenses i»ii basement. ''-'i o.i 

Expenses on Ih-II, 
Interest on cash advanced to date. 
Loss on broken bank bill. 

kKCF.II'TS. 

Subscriptions for the house. $.4,007 <>S 

Lumber sold. 74 «io 

Mortar, 5 W» 

Subscriptions for the UIl. ;'.;..i 
I^idics' Sewing Society. 
Balance to be provided for. 



64 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

Which account was audited and approved by the building 
committee October 19, 1842. In i860 the entire interior was re- 
modeled, gallery closed up, and as I look up to where the gal- 
lery was, I miss the familiar face of the chorister, David Phelps, 
and others. Also Sherman C. Lord, with his big bass viol, and 
the jarring of the seat beneath me, as he played on the low 
notes and struck the chord of the woodwork around. I still 
have my first New England Primer, given me when I was 
four years old, my name written on the front cover by my 
father in a plain, round hand, and remember how I used to 
look at the picture on the outside of the cover, of a church, and 
a family of father, mother, and four children, book in hand, 
entering the church, and the verse printed beneath the picture : 

When to the House of God we go. 
To hear His word and sing His love. 
We ought to worship Him below 
As saints and angels do above. 

And, reading it, I wondered if the singers in the loft above were 
the " saints and angels " referred to. 

This desk and platform take the place of the original pul- 
pit and table, which were made in the Doric style, painted 
white and marbleized. One of my schoolmates said, when he 
first saw it, *' The white paint looks as if it had been smoked 
with a candle." 

I was glad to see that old Doric pulpit in the room below, 
this morning. 



ADDRESS BY MR. DAVID SKINNER BIGELOW, 

C0LCni-:sri;R. 



Brethren and I-ricuds: 

.\l)pr(>j)riatc wdrds to use in addnssinp tliis gathering 
causctl soim* hesitation till T read the following extract from 
the Chicafjo Herald: 

During ciRht centuries one's direct .nncestors amount »o a greater 
number than wo»iI<l at t"irst Iw contemplated. Three Kenerati<jns to a 
century, one ha^; father and mother (2), grandpareiUs (4), ureat-grand- 
parenls (8). At tlie end of tlie second century llie number of ancestors 
springs to 64. Following the calculati«in, you will find that at tlie end 
of eight centuries one is descended from no less than 16,000,000 an- 
cestors, hitermarriages, of course, would reduce this estimate, and 
there is no doubt it must have largely prevailed. But the figures arc 
so enormous that, in spjtc of all, a writer ventures to suggest that the 
words "all ye are brfthren " arc literally true. 

It i.N reallx pK.i-.uii ic> nuii dihs self in the ei)nii>.iii\ <>i the 
sons and flanijhters of those who lived their lives on the hard 
and narrow, hm lofty, lines aiul principles of pioneers, patriots, 
and Christians. 

The first settlers of Marlhoroii.cjh were clear, cool, consist- 
ent, stahle nun. of mature opinions, of larjje and fair views. 
They were rare men. men of comprehensive, exact, liheral. 
recridated minds. 

We are inff>rmed tli.it in tin early part of the nineteenth 
centnr\ more stroncj-tiiinded men came to the Icpislatnre from 
MarllMtroiitjh than fmm any other town of its size in the state. 

Some of the first settlers were rnritans. an<l had all the 
religions earnestness of their ape. Some were educated men, 
tjraduates of Harvard and Yale, and strxni high in the estima- 
tion of the community, as regards education, talents, and in- 
tegrity. 

5 



66 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

An ancient writer (perhaps with prophetic ken looking 
down the centuries) describes such women as our maternal 
ancestors were as follows : 

A worthy woman who can find? For her price is far above rubies. 
The heart of her husband trusteth in her, and he shall have no lack of 
gain. She doeth him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. She 
seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is 
like the merchant ships ; she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth 
also while it is yet night, and giveth food to her household, and their 
task to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it ; with the 
fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with 
strength, and maketh strong her arms. She perceiveth that her mer- 
chandize is profitable; her lamp goeth not out by night. She layeth 
her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. She spreadeth 
out her hand to the poor ; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. 
She is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all of her house- 
hold are clothed with scarlet. She maketh for herself carpets of tapes- 
try; her clothing is fine linen and purple. Her husband is known in the 
gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She maketh linen 
garments and selleth them; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. 
Strength and dignity are her clothing ; and she laugheth at the time to 
come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom ; and the law of kindness 
is on her tongue. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and 
eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her 
blessed ; her husband, also, and he praiseth her, saying : many daugh- 
ters have done worthily, but thou excellest them all. Grace is deceitful, 
and beauty is vain ; but a woman that feareth Jehovah, she shall be 
praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands ; and let her works praise 
her in the gates. 

The wheels on which the thread and yarn were spun, the 
looms in which the linen and flannel were woven, may still be 
found in many homes, more highly prized as heirlooms and 
souvenirs than silver or gold. 

A century lies between us and the times of the noble men 
and wom'en of 1803; but that century is well bridged by two 
men born in the early part of the nineteenth century, who have 
been efficient helpers in making that century more remarkable 
than any other for the progress made in religion, education, 
wealth, science, art, literature, invention, and today honor us 
by their presence as presiding officers of this centennial gatber- 
ii^g. They well illustrate a remark of Oliver Wendell Holmes : 
*' The best time to commence the training of a child is an 
hundred vears before it is born." 



KAKI.Y SETTLERS <»l THK TOWN. 67 

A tlistinj;^nislu«l lawj^'ivrr and proplut said: ' Tlu- days of 
our years arc tlirtc-scorc years aii<l ten, or even by reasrMi of 
strength foiirseore years: yet is their pride but lalxir and 
sorrow." It is onr exalted privilei^e to see two notable ex- 
ceptions to this remark, and hope t«> hear from them words 
that shall be " like apples of j^old in iK-tw(»rk of silver." 

The worthy men and women of 1803 have pone to their 
rest, .and their descendants are now scattered widely over this 
broad land. Mo>t of them have preserved respectable and 
useful positions in thiir several connnunities. and S(Mue liave 
won prcat distinction. We lament that the silence of oblivion 
buries so many important events and incidents that might 
prove most interesting to us if we could rescue them from the 
past. Many useful and happy lives have glided tranc|uilly 
away leaving little trace behind. 



.Mr. r.igelow was unable, on accnunl of impaired health, to 
complete his genealogy of the Skinner. Lord, and I'igelow fami- 
lies, but it is ho|)ed they may be completed and ) ubiished. with 
other valuable material i>f interest to the town, at a later date. 



ADDRESS BY REV. DR. SAMUEL HART, 

President of the Connecticut Historical Society. 



It is a pleasure to present today to the good people of Marl- 
borough the greetings of the Connecticut Historical Society, 
and to assure them of the interest which is taken in this com- 
memoration. The recurrent anniversaries, as they have been 
carefully observed of late years, are bringing before us the 
history of the several parts of our colony and state. The older 
towns, with their quartermillennials, those which followed after, 
with their bicentennials, and others yet, like your town, the 
separate organization of wdiich dates but a century back — 
each in its place is helping us to understand and to appre- 
ciate the circumstances of the life of former days and to know 
how duty was learned and character molded in the days of our 
ancestors. The old towns began the state, or, as some would 
prefer to say, began with the state ; and then one after another 
came new settlements, imtil the whole of the territory was occu- 
pied. This was the work of early days, and many a pleasant 
and instructive picture of it has been drawn as, one after 
another, the towns have grown to be two centuries or two 
centuries and a half old. This town was formed a hundred 
years ago, btit the three towns, in three different counties, 
which contributed to it, had already seen respectively a hun- 
dred and thirteen, a hundred and two, and ninety-nine years of 
history. The new settlement, and others like it, witnessed to 
neighborliness, and to the desire for more ready attendance on 
the worship of God, for better school privileges, and for a 
reasonable independence in civil organization. But the in- 
habitants did not seek isolation ; they were making, with the 
approval and by the authority of the superior government, a 
n^w unit in the body politic. The question of small towns as 
against large towns (with possibly smaller societies within 



AliDKKSS AND GKEKTINGS. 69 

thi-m) was a (lirtVriiit <|iKsti«)ii thm iVimh iliat which causes 
so much anxiety to thouijhtful iikm mow ; a new hfe came to 
your forefathers of a hiindred Nears aj^o, and they adapted 
themselves ti> it : we Uve mnler changed circumstances, and we 
cannot yet tell how io ailapt ourselves to an order of things 
which has not found its lasting shape. Hut it is fortunate 
that we may 1k' interested in history without attem|>ting t<i Ik* 
proi)hets, or even without dittrminiug Imw or when history 
shall repeat itself. .\tid these anniversaries are re-enacting 
history hefore our eyes ami recalling it to our memories; they 
are reminding an older and teaching a younger generation, or 
rather, as in few places they are less than half a century apart, 
they are teaching in ditTerent ways two or three generations. 

I'-vcry town and village has a real history, with a real 
reason for it. which is nuich more than a hare record of annals 
or of the succession of events. To the knowledge of this his- 
tory many valuahle contrihutions have been made hy the re- 
peated investigations, the discoveries and rediscoveries, the 
rehearsings and re-rehearsings of events and facts. I'.ut. great 
as is the importance of this, the cherishing of the historic spirit 
is of no less value. What was done in .\'ew Haven hy Dr. 
P.acon. in Middletown by Dr. I'ield. in Hartford by those who 
wrote for Hr. Trumbull, and in Saybrook and (iuilford by 
local historians, and what has been <loue in preparation for this 
commemoratiou. has adde<l to our stores of historical in- 
formation : but iKsides this, and as a valuable result of this, 
it has added to our intelligent interest in atTairs, and thus to 
our happiness. We may well ex|)ect far-reaching results from 
what is said an<l <lone here to<lay. 

r»ut to attain go<id results we must make good use of the 
means which lie at hand. The new generation should be 
trained to a fidl ac<|uaintance with places and I^Mmdaries. with 
facts an«l traditions, with men and women, and should Ik' taught 
to search for the traces of the |)ast and to remember them. 
.\nd we nutst have thought for those who will look back on 
this anniversary as matter of history. Nothing can be of more 
importance in our case for those who are to come after us, in 
matters of this kind, than that we care for- the inscriptions in 
our burying groimds. and that we leave records, carefully 



yO MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

made, and written with permanent ink on imperishable paper ; 
and if one looks for encouragement or for warning in this 
latter particular, they can be found in every official volume of 
manuscript and on every signpost. It is a most imperative 
duty to keep and to guard original documents ; and every town 
or village library should make it a duty, and a willing duty, to 
preserve everything, however insignificant, which can in any 
way throw light on historical events, no matter how trivial 
they seem at the time, or on manners and customs which mark 
the life of the day. A century seems a long time when com- 
pared with the average length of human life ; but a century 
soon passes away. We turn our thoughts to the organization 
of this town, and recall the men of three generations ago ; it will 
not be long, though possibly the time may be crowded with mo- 
mentous events, before we shall be objects of antiquarian 
interest, and those who come after us will wonder at the vestiges 
which we have left. 

As we look back on the past, or forward to the future, in 
any place and any community, we cannot but recognize the 
great and enduring power of character. It sometimes seems 
that the small community feels more cpickly and holds more 
tenaciously to this influence than does the larger community 
or the more crowded assemblage of men ; certainly where there 
are but few, and each man's life is of necessity known to all his 
neighbors, the value of character and the influence of character 
cannot but make themselves felt, and therefore they impose a 
great responsibility. 

Not to speak of other considerations, though they cannot 
but come to the mind of a clergyman in a place of public wor- 
ship, it is the duty of every grown-up man and woman, for the 
sake of the community, to take an active part in the mainte- 
nance of churches and schools, to foster neighborliness, to see 
to it that there is, both in themselves and in younger persons 
whom they can influence, an intelligent acquaintance with the 
afifairs of the world and a respect for the power of intelli- 
gence. There are great possibilities in a true country life ; and 
may the time never cease when we can look to our rural com- 
munities for examples of high character and of usefulness to 
the commonwealth ! 



I.-^TKODUCTION OF HON. JOHN HU'.KI.ONV, Jl 

Mr. William II. KiiliMiniid. in intr<nlucin^ Mr. l'ic:clo\v, 
sai<l ; 

( )ur (listiii}^iii.sluM| ;4iu'st. ol national and stale rcinilalioti. 
docs ni)t. I iK'licvf, claim .MarllM»rouL,di as his native place, but 
his t'allur <lid, aiivl in iarl\ life mii^rated to the state of New 
York ami settled at Sauirerties. about U>) uiiles up the Hudson 
River froiu the city of New ^'ork. There he fouud the Ilsopus 
Mutch, whose anccst«)rs were IJollauders, and coiumcnced a 
business life after s<»me exiR'rience in Connecticut. He was a 
successful and a prominent business man. afFordinj^ his chil- 
dren the JK'.st f>pi)ortunities for education, and this son was in 
due time {graduated at Inion C'ollej^e in iH^5. lie studied law. 
and was asscK'iated with some of the most noted lawyers in the 
city of Xew York, and early l)ccanie known as a writer on con- 
stitutional reform, contributor to prominent newspapers, and 
holder of important elective and appointive offices in the state, 
notedly the appointment by (Governor Silas Wright in 1844 as 
one of the state pri.son inspectors. The third annual re[)ort 
showed that under faithful and efficient mana}:;ement Sinj^ 
Sinp prison had become nearly self-sustaining^. Mr. Hipelow 
at this time had become much interested in |Militical affairs, 
and alxnit 1S50 became owner with the late William CuUen 
llryant in publishing the Xnu y'ork Erctiitii^ Post, and for a 
decade or more that journal imder his management exertc«l 
great inniniui- in st.ii, .md national atYairs, and docs at this 
time. 

.\boui iS<»i t»r iS<»j 1 'resident Lincoln api^^inted Mr. Uii^'c- 
low consul to Paris, and in 18^)5 he succeeded Hon. William 
I .. Dayton as minister plenij^tentiary to the empire of France. 
1 )uring his stay abroad his pen and intluence were always active 
in promoting the interests of the I'nitt'd States, and the country 
gave him great credit by honoring him in many ways. When 
he was to retire from his diplomatic charge to the I'reTuh 
govenuiient. the authorities at Paris tenderetl him a farewell 
dinner at the Hotel (Irand. and this honor fell to him as the 
first one ever paid to an American diplomat at any court. 

Since his return, after sjxmding some years in (lonnany 
and other continental countries in alwut 1875, ^^'"' Higclow has 
been active in state affairs and in literary work, publishing 



72 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

many works, and is now president of the New York Public 
Library Association, to which the bequests of Astor, Lenox, 
and Tilden are the foundation. The most elaborate library 
building is now being erected in Bryant Park, Forty-second 
Street, New York, which when completed will perhaps excel 
in appointments the United States government library building 
at Washington, D. C. With all these activities and honors, 
and since 1817, he appears before you as one who is able and 
will for a long time exert his activities for the welfare of his 
country. 

It gives me pleasure to present Hon. John Bigelow of the 
city of New York. 




HON. JOHN BIGELOW. 



ADDRESS BY HON. JOHN BIGHLOW. 
NEW YORK. 



Mr. Uigclow cxpressctl his surprise at Mr. Ivicluuond's 
intriHluctioii, ami said: 

h'clloii' Ciiizcns, l-riciids. Cousins, Uncles, Aunts, Xicccs, etc.: 

W'lun I read a few days since, in one of the puhhc prints, 
that I was to deliver an " address " here today. I was re- 
minded of an incident occurring in the early days ni the re- 
public, which will sirve in a measure to explain my present 
embarrassment. 

A family (if emigrants from the ICast — from Marlborough, 
for aught I know, for Marlborough seems, like !^cotlan(i, to 
have always been regarded as a gocnl place to emigrate from — 
arrive<l one day at a roadside inn on their way in quest of a 
new home in the virgin soil of the (ireat West, in which 'to 
grow up with the country." W hile the only efTective man of 
the party was preparing diimer for his horses, the keeper of the 
hostel was taking an inventory of the contents of the prairie 
schooner which the horses had brought to his do<ir. After 
noting a wife, two or three children, bedding for the crowd, 
agricidtural implements, carpenters' tools, a few pieces of fur- 
niture, finally, in the farthest corner, he discovered a decrepit 
old man who seemed likely to reach a new home in the skies 
before he could reacli one in the wilderness toward which he 
was traveling. When the publican's eyes fell on him. he ex- 
claimed to the driver of the team : 

■ What on airth are you going to do with this old man out 
ill the pcr-ai-er-ie? " 

" What, that old man ? "' was the re|>ly ; " why. he is our 
great card : we are going to open our new ccmctry with him." 

I suppose any of you can appreciate better than I the humor 
disguised in this one of the varieties of ways in which an old 
man mav be made useful to the last. 



74 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

Knowing as we all do what an address is understood to 
signify to any New England audience, you should hardly have 
expected any thing of that sort from one of my age. Besides, 
we are not assembled today to open a new cemetery, for you 
have here already a venerable repository for the dead in which 
are reposing the mortal remains of more than five generations of 
your kinspeople and neighbors. Instead of opening a new 
cemetery, we are here today to open that old one, and to invite 
the immortal spirits of those whose mortal remains are lying 
there, to be with us, to refresh and strengthen, us by the remem- 
brance of their virtues, and of the numberless communities in 
all quarters of the globe impregnated by their example. 

These revelations will be delivered to you by the various 
speakers, whom it will presently be my privilege to introduce 
to you. Before taking my seat, however, I may as well make 
what little farther contribution to the exercises of this occasion 
can reasonably be expected from one not to the manner born. 
I will allow myself to say a few words about the only native of 
Marlborough I can pretend to have ever personally known since 
I was seven or eight years of age, until a few hours visit here 
a year ago. 

My father, Asa Bigelow, was born in this town on the i8th 
of January, 1779, and died' on the 12th of February, 1850, at 
Maiden, in his seventy-first year. On the 18th of February, 
1802, he was married to Lucy Isham, of Colchester, jConn., by 
the Reverend Salmon Cone ; she in her twenty-second and he 
in his twenty-third year. 

My father had three brothers and three sisters. Of these, 
my namesake, John D., who lived to the goodly age of a 
century, and his brother Isaac, lived and died in Marlborough. 
David settled in Vermont and Erastus in Union Village, Wash- 
ington Co., New York. One of the sisters married John 
Sears, a Baptist clergyman, and moved to western New York ; 
the other two sisters were settled in this town and are repre- 
sented here today by their ofifspring. 

My father soon after his marriage migrated to what is now 
known as the town of Saugerties, then an obscure village 
near the banks of the Hudson River, on what was known in 
my youth as the Sawyers' Creek, where to a general country 



AODRI.SS liV HON. JOHN BICEI-OW. 75 

stoff Ik- a<l(lr<l tlu- hiisimss of frcij^htiiij^ ami t'nrwardinj^ the 
pnxluci- of tlu' luii^HiImrlKHKl i.> Ww ^'^•rk. lli* secured the 
first post-ofHce service for the villaj^e of Saiij^erties, and was 
himself its first pttstiiiaster. lie \va> a|)|M(iiited \>\ President 
jefTerson. 

In iS<)8 he joined his father-in-law. Sanuiel Uliani. in pur- 
cliasini; j(x) acres of land lyin^ directly on the North River, 
for which tluy paid $6,000, and ^)uilt a frame store on it. 
Iletweeii 1S07 and iSii he sold his projierty in the village of 
Sanj^erties. and in iSi,^ moved with his family on to his new 
purchase, and practically, with his father-in-law, laid the foun- 
dations of the village called Ilristol. The name some ten 
years later was chaiifjed to .Maiden, when on apjilication for a 
post-office there hy my father it was objected that there was a 
I'.ristol office in our state already. .My father's clerk. Mr. 
(."alkins. was appointed the first postmaster in Mahlen. hy 
President lolin Ouincy .\dams. 

In P.ristol niy father pursued his mercantile and forwardinij 
husiness in partnership with his father-in-law until 1S18. when 
he handed that business over to his father-in-law and his 
bri>tliers-in-law. Charles and Giles Isham, and he established 
himself in the same husiness on some pro|H'rty a c|uarter of a 
mile farther north, aiul built a stone store, which is still stand- 
injj. ami which has been «>ccupied since he retired from business 
as the office of the Iiijjelow lUue Stone Company. 

I lis motives for leavintj .Sau.Ljerties were of a character 
which perhaps this is not an unsuitable occasion for me to dwell 
upon a little. 

In the first place, the Saugerties Creek, in and out of which 
his sloops had to pass, was very much obstructed by sand 
banks that were always changing. The nuvlern taste for 
river and harlior improvements lia<l not yet In-en developed 
at W'ashinirtoii. an«l my father concluded that the business he 
was trying to conduct re<|uired In-tter facilities than he lia«l. 
an«l that they were to be found on the banks of the river at 
l'ri»t<>l. where the water was always deep enough for the 
largest river lioats. P.ut it is doubtful if he would for that 
motive ahme have aKindoned .Saugerties. 

r.etwcen the years 1790 and 1800 Captain An<Irew Brink 



T6 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

of Sangerties had built what was, for those days, a large 
sloop, which he named, after a favorite sister, the Maria. 
The captain's father had many years before established a scow 
ferry across the river, from his door at the mouth of the 
Sangerties Creek to Chancellor Livingston's house nearly 
opposite ; and when he had built his new sloop he immediately 
secured from the chancellor the transportation of the products 
of his manor to market. During the ten years that Captain 
Brink sailed the Maria, Livingston was a frequent passenger. 
He had been experimenting Mvith steam before he went as 
minister to France in 1801, and while there had been interested 
in the little steamboat that Robert Fulton had put on the Seine 
in 1804, but which had broken down. The men became very 
intimate, and Fulton later married a niece of the chancellor. 
Thus he came to be a friend and welcome guest at Clermont, 
the home of Livingston. In the cabin of the Maria the chan- 
cellor and Fulton often discussed the problem of steam naviga- 
tion as a more reliable power than the wind, and Captain Brink, 
as a practical navigator, was admitted to their councils. 

It was finally decided that they should make a new attempt 
to solve the problem of steam navigation. Livingston-was to 
furnish the capital. Fulton was to obtain from Scotland a Watts 
engine of twenty horse power with a copper boiler, and direct 
the construction of the boat, while Brink was to furnish such 
practical details as would insure the kind of vessel suited to the 
■navigation of the Hudson. 

The latter part of the year 1806, and until the summer of 
1807, was occupied by the contrivance of this boat and the 
engines. On the morning of the 3d of August, 1807, and only 
four years after the event we are celebrating today, the new 
boat with its copper boiler bubbling and hissing lay at a pier 
in the North River — a long, narrow vessel with two masts for 
sails, a low cabin on each side of the deck, a revolving wheel 
on either side with ten paddles, uncovered. On the pier a 
jeering crowd of spectators were exchanging cheap witticisms 
with each other at the expense of Fulton and his associates. 
When the order came to start, and they saw the wheels begin 
to ttirn and the boat to move away up the river, they began to 
realize that the joke was neither on Fulton nor his captain. 



.\I)|)KF>S ItV HON. JOHN MltJELONV. 7/ 

l-'ultuii's Ixcit, naiiud the Clermont, al'tir tin- cliaiiccllor's 
rcsidc-ncf i»ii ilu' Ihidsnii. U-ft Xcw \'nrk at <»ik* o'clofk jn the 
afteriuxMi of Monday. Auij^iist v'- «""l reached Clermont at 
one o'clock on Inesday. I In no miles ha<l been covered in 
just t went \ -four hours. 

I'ldton wint ashore to ^pend the nii^ht with Livingston, 
while Captain i'.rink went to liis father's on the opposite hank 
at Sanijeriies to redeem a promise he had made his wife. She 
had l)een in the hahit of lauj^hini; at his enthusia>m alj«nit s lihnjj 
to .\lhan\ by steam, hut he rephed to her that he would S(K)n ^o 
to .Mhany in connnand of a steamhoat. and stop there and tike 
her aloni^ with hitu. Iler rejjly was: "When I see you and 
.Mr. I'uhon dri villi; a l)oat witli a tea-kettle I will believe it." 
The captain kept his |)romise. and tfH)k his wife with him the 
next day to .\ibany. where he arrived at four in the aftern > »! 
on the first steamer that ever vexed the waters of the Hudson. 

In ( )ctober of that year the Clermont was put on the river 
as a reijular liner, the first. I believe, in the world, for com- 
mercial purposes, and was advertised U^ sail from Paulus* 
H<Hik herry. a point now familiar to New N'orkers as the fi>ot 
of C'ourtland Street. 

lUnjamin Myer I'.rink. a descendant of the captain of the 
Maria, has now in his possession the letter in which F<obi rt 
I'ulton. the ca|)tain of the Clermont, jjave instructions in regard 
to the way in which the new ves.sel was to be manajjed. I ipiote 
it at length here, both for its |)eculiar interest and because I 
may safely assinne that none (»f my hearers has ever seen it. 

\c\\ ^'<«rk. Oct. 0, iSo" 
Cipl. Hrink : — 

Sir — Inclosed is the minibcr of voyages which is iniciulcd the Bo.it 
should run this season. You may have them published ••■ •' • ^''' — 
papers. 

.•\s she is strnnRly mann'd and every one except Jack-'-ii n;'.!.- \i.i;t 
command, you must insist on each one doinp hii duty or turn him on 
shore and put another in his pl.icc. Evcrytlii; •• kept in order. 

everythiuR in its place, and all parts of the P.- i and clean. It 

is not sufficient to tell men to do a thinp. but stand over ihem and make 
them do it. One pair of quick and good eyes is worth six pair of hands 
in a commander. If the Boat is dirty and out of order the fault iihall 
be yours. Let no man he Idle when there is the least thing to do and 
make them move quick. 



78 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

Run no risques of any kind when you meet or overtake vessels beat- 
ing or crossing your way. Always run under their stern if there -be the 
least doubt that you cannot clear their head by 50 yards or more. Give 
'in the accounts of Receipts and expenses every week to the Chancellor. 
Your Most Obedient 

Robt. Fulton. 

My only (^xcnse for dwelling at stich length upon an event, 
memorable as it was, which has no apparent connection with 
Marlboroiigh, is to do justice to the sagacity and foresight of 
my father, in transferring his bttsiness interests and household 
goods to Bristol on the banks of the Hudson, where he se- 
cured a deep-water harbor, within a year after the C^.orniont 
had demonstrated to the world that steam and not wind was 
the Neptune which future navigators were destined to wor- 
ship, and that for his business he must be established where 
the steamers could land at his wharfs, which they soon did 
and continued to do while he remained in business. 

My father and the Ishams brotight with them to Bristol a 
fair proportion of the habits, the tastes, and the principles 
which in those days were rather peculiar to New England. 
They regarded the schoolhotise and the " meeting-house " and 
the Christian Sabbath, religiously discriminated by its use 
from other days of the week, as among the first necessities in 
a new settlement. They built the first schoolhouse in Bristol, 
to which I owe decidedly the best part of my earlier education, 
though I subsequently had the advantages of a high school and 
two colleges. 

The country about Bristol had been settled by a Palatine 
colony from Holland. Early in the i8th century, and when 
my father settled there, low Dutch was the prevailing lan- 
guage in use. The nearest church to Bristol was at Katsban, 
nearly two miles distant, and was the first house of worship 
that I can remember to have ever entered. It was built of 
stone, was then over a hundred years old, and is still standing 
and used as a place of worship. The pastor, the Rev. Dr. 
Ostrander, was a Lutheran, and preached usually in Dutch, 
and every other Sunday in English. 

As my parents and the Ishams were all trained in the 
Presbyterian communion, they were not entirely satisfied with 
Dominie Ostrander's theology, and still less with the necessity 



ADDRESS ItV HON. JOHN lUGELOW. 79 

of travilinij two miles to enjoy it. It was not many years 
before they put their heads and purses together and built a very 
pretty church and parsonai^e. To this my father added an 
academy, which he placed in charcfo ni a teacher also imported 
from Connecticut. 

My father was al)out six mi iwo inches high, of unusual 
strength, and of exemplary habits. As early as 1824 he united 
with his brothers-in-law in discontinuing the sale of intoxicat- 
ing beverages at their stores or ofiering them to their guests. 
.\t the same time they organized the first temperance society, 
I iK'lie've. in the county. I low much this movement dimin- 
ished intemperance in the county of I'lster I cannot say. but 
it certainly did |)rotect ihe younger generation of our village 
from the temptations to intemperance and its incidents to a 
remarkable degree. 

I visited .Marlborough twice while in my teens, the first 
time with both my parents and the second time with my father 
alone, though I then met no one who. otherwise than in the 
spirit, can be with us today. 



ADDRESS BY HON. WILLIAM H. RICHMOND, 
OF SCRANTON, PA. 



Ladies and Gentlemen, Fello-w Citizens, and Gnests of Marl- 
boroiigli: 

In speaking to you I can with propriety say fellow citizens, 

as I was born in this town in 182 1, but have been a citizen of 

f 
Pennsylvania more than sixty years, occasionally coming here. 

My father was William Wadsworth Richmond, son of John 
Richmond, who was born in West Brookfield, Mass., in 1767, 
and was married to Prudence Wadsworth of East Hartford, 
sixth in lineal descent from William Wadsworth, who came 
to Hartford with Rev. Hooker and the first settlers. They 
were married in 1795, and the same year settled in the parish 
of East Hampton, Conn. ; and Dr. Richmond was the only phy- 
sician in a district of some eight to ten miles in area. 

The house where he lived, and died in 1821, is now stand- 
ing, just at the right of the Congregational Church in East 
Hampton, and now appears the same as wdien I was a lad, w^ith 
the exception of a veranda on the front. The house, with 
some alterations, wdiere Dr. Field resides, some 500 feet dis- 
tant, is the one located on the farm of my maternal grandfather, 
Nathaniel Bailey, wdio was married to Rachael Sears. Na- 
thaniel Bailey was the son of Joshua Bailey and Ann Foote, 
the latter of the seventh generation from Nathaniel Foote, one 
of the first settlers of Wethersfield, Conn., about 1636. My 
father, soon after his marriage in 1819, settled in Marlborough, 
as a patron of Esq. Joel Foote, and resided in a cottage long 
since gone, which stood at the junction of the New London 
and Hartford turnpike where it crossed the north branch of 
Salmon River. 

^i\Iy father was a blacksmith, and his shops were connected 
with a factory for making wagons, window blinds, and other 




\U)S WILLIAM H RICHMOND. 



Ahl'ivl.--^ hV liiiN. wii l.i.\^l II. KK iiMoSl). 8l 

articles. Iliis factory was inana^cd by two men by the name 
of Maiiwarriiij^. These shops were locate«l just l)clow the saw- 
fiillini^ mills and cUuh-dressintj factory of Jck'I F(K>tc, and the 
water power derived from the same mill-dam. 

AJKUit 1S25 or 1826. my father, believiiij^ the Nxation more 
central, moved to what was called the Dean I'arm, alxnit three- 
(|iiarters of a mile below this church. The house is now jjoue, 
and a smaller one is built on a part of the fomulation, which 
stands on the old town road just beyond the junction with the 
turnpike where Mr. Lord now resides. 

AlKHit this time David Kelloijij was assfxriated in business 
with my father, under the firm name of Richmond & Kellopj^. 
They accpiired tlie farms of .Mr. Kelloptj's father, near Jr^ies 
Street, and had a foundry with blacksmithinp shops. Part of 
this fomitiry is now standinj.j. back from the road at the foot 
of this hill, and it obtained its water power by impounding the 
water of the small stream that crosses the road at the frM)t of 
this hill where we now are. 

I remember that in 1831 or 1832 they had a contract with 
the late Mr. Charles I'arker of Meriden, Conn., a prominent 
manufacturer, to make a (iuantit\ •»f castinjjs for coffee mills, 
and I once went with .Mr. Kello.c^sf, who manapod the farms, 
lumber, and transportation part of the business, to Meriden. 
some twenty-five miles, when we had four pairs of cattle before 
a larije waijon loa<K'd with castings, and when we returned, 
purchased |)ijj iron at Middletown to brinp home. This was 
a journey of a week, and the longest in my history at that time. 
.Mxnit this date MarllK>rouph was in a healthy and pros|H"rous 
condition as to business in j^eneral : two or three four-horse 
post-coaches arrivini^ each day at the hotel, to change teams on 
the way to Wu London and llartford with I'nited States 
mails east and west; two cotton mills, anionic the first in this 
country, in operation. I think, as early as 1810 to 1820: one 
principal j^unmaking factory that employed many hands, and 
stHue smaller shops tributary to the lartjer. The principal 
owner ni the pun factory was Col. ICIisha I'.uell. who ft»r many 
years ha<l In-en proprietor of the hotel where our fricn<l .Miss 
Hall now has her summer home. Mr. P.uell's son. (»en. Knos 
IL I'uell. stu'i'eeilcd biin .ilmiit iSji or i S ii > for soiiu- \«',Trs. 



82 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

and afterwards different persons, whom I could name, suc- 
ceeded him as late as 1850. 

Col. Elisha Buell was the first postmaster I can remember, 
and the office came down in his family, and remained in it up 
to the death of the daughter of Gen. Enos H. Buell, Mrs. 
Edwin Warner, which occurred about five years ago. General 
Buell and others, about 1830 to 1835, were often engaged in 
buying horses and shipping them at New London to the West 
Indies and other places. Droves of cattle and sheep used to 
pass through the town, and their owners would buy such as 
were offered for sale. The ship timber, oak and hickory wood, 
that was hauled over the Middletown and Hebron turnpike to 
Middle Haddam up to and some time after 1837, brought 
back to Marlborough large sums of money, as previous to this 
date there were two shipyards at Middle Haddam and a number 
of vessels built every year, some quite large ones. A large 
amount of wood and chestnut rails were shipped to the city of 
New York and Long Island, which about 1835 had a popula- 
tion of over 200,000 dependent on wood for all heating pur- 
poses. The price of oak and hickory wood used to be six to 
seven dollars a cord on dock at Middle Haddam, and by the 
time it was placed before the door of the New Yorker, and 
sawed and split to proper sizes to use, it cost him twelve dol- 
lars or more per cord, and it is counted as taking two cords, or 
256 cubic feet, of wood to supply the number of heat units of a 
ton of anthracite coal. Notwithstanding, now when the people 
of New York and others can have a ton of anthracite coal put 
in their coalbins for five or six dollars, they, through the news- 
papers, abuse the hardworking coal operators and producers, 
who expend large amounts of money in opening coal mines, 
building coal breakers and railroads to produce the coal, and 
call them by the euphonious name " Coal Barons." 

A few months ago a large amount of enterprise was ex- 
pended in telling the public how greatly the country was suffer- 
ing by reason of the hard lot of the miners and laborers of the 
anthracite coal districts. Many of the miners in the Wyoming 
and Lackawanna fields own their own homes, as a result of 
their prudence, good habits, and industry, and were able to live-' 
six~ months while the anthracite coal interests were idle and 



ADDRf ")N .SII.L.'WI II. KK ilMONlJ .^3 

tinjipKluctivc. Miicc |jr<Hluctirin han f)ccn rcsumrd, a: 
anthracitr art- (\u\tv willing to |nit in their coal rari 
>>v'isfm. nw\ the result has In-tn that coal at the rate of 
millions per annum has Ytccn prorjucerl this summer ami about 
three times the usual r|uantity in the summer seasrm. 

It was at Carh)onflaIe, Fa., in the year iH2f), that the Dela- 
ware & Huflson (anal Co. bejfan mining anthracite coal. The 
amoimt mined in that year was 7.000 tons. From rarbrmrl.ile 
it was shipperl over the gravity railroad sixteen miles to Hones- 
dale, then by canal one hundred anrl eight miles to the Hurlson 
River. 

When I went to F'cnnsylvania in 1^42, the amrmnt of coal 
mined at Carbondale had reacherl 200.000 tons. L'p to this 
date the whole pro^luction of anthracite in S' ' " " ' ' ' 
and Wyoming coal fieUls am<iunted to son.- 
thousand tons. Xow we are producing from these same fields 
at the rate of sixty million tons per annum. The 
owner after sending a ton of coal from his lanrl a ht; 
a thousanrl feet or more under the same surface cannrn get 
an«»ther ton from the same space; what Iv • is a va<" 

fJut the tiller of the soil r.in CT't rrop . a ith r 

oiiIti!r<- 

I ><5o or ■u^^•..■^ or .-.oit 

ni: . its valii' 1 ; now that i ., 

and used to the amount of i6oxx)OXXX) or 170,000,000 tons per 
annum, and we mine the most coal of any nation. ^^ 
brirough. although she has no minerals that have been w •; . 
at a profit, has a very substantial base, as is shown and seen 
by all travelers. .*>he has much good productive soil, and in 
the early part of the last century the town was noted as or. ,- 
ductive in agriculture. .\t this flay, if her people would f 
the habits of industry of the early days, the fields here c«Hild 
be made to produce largely. 

Not long after 1830 it was thought that this countrv ha«! 
e-* • n mantr - on a s. 

T!-. >...,■ -nantifac:... . ■•■■■'. an<. . , 

•. i»\v. I su: being entir ' France and 

other i\ Countries — the siik worm and the 

fr^.. ■ ■ t. ...I- ,. ,.r.. '""-oduced. ^ K.-i;..,-. r 



84 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

and New Jersey were most interested of any of the states, and 
many people of these states were engaged in raising a species 
of mulberry {Moms luulficaiilis) for feeding the worm to 
produce silk, and with the view of producing the silks needed 
by this country. 

The raising and speculating in these mulberrv trees, which 
in two or three years' growth attained a height of six or eight 
feet or more, with large leaves, on which the worm could be 
fed and make the cocoon from which the silk was reeled, had 
become wonderfully attractive and speculative, so that in 1837, 
when President Andrew Jackson caused the deposits to be re- 
moved from the United States Bank, a most severe panic came 
to the country. Persons \\-ho had fortunes made, as supposed, 
in the production of the mulberry tree, and in silk manufactur- 
ing, were prostrated financially, and there was no revival until 
after the Henry Clay protective tariff bill, passed in the Con- 
gress of 1 841 -2. Not till then did the people of this country 
take courage and hope for more prosperous times, which came 
slowly from this time, and there was no very severe panic again 
until 1857. My father suffered financial reverses by reason of 
the nuilberry speculations and other causes, from which he 
never recovered. He died early in 1843. 

x^fter a time the silk industry was revived in this state, and 
you have now the Cheney ^Manufacturing Co., the largest in the 
country, which dates back to the earliest days of the business ; 
and I am told that through their friendly interest in this cele- 
bration we witness their courtesies in the beautiful display of 
drapery in this church. Now this country is producing silks 
to the amount of fifty to sixty million dollars per annum, and, 
I believe, more than half the quantity consumed. 

Fifty years ago, or more, it was said of the Connecticut 
Yankee that you would find him traveling anywhere in the 
known world, and if not peddling clocks, he was soliciting 
subscriptions to very instructive, useful books ; no book of 
doubtful teachings, for he had been taught in his early days to 
read the Bible in the public schools, as children should be in 
this age. If you did not want his book he would just as soon 
trade jackknives with you, if yours had a more elegant and 
tasty handle. Should he happen to have in view the selection 



AnOKls-^ 1!V HON. \\ll I l\\l M i;.' iiM'iM). 85 

of a wife, tlu" first i«lca «>r inc|uiry wmild be: " Is slu- haiul- 
soim? Is she a ijond cook?" IIo would not make the in- 
(|uir\ to It-am if slu* had a tjood bank account, and interest 
money en«»u,tjh cttniinj^ to supply wood for the kitchen fire. 
N'o, he could supply the wood and do the milking, unless he 
had to go to the war, or had <ome urijent project he nuist 
follow. 

t'oiuiecticut. thouj^h on 11 iiu >iii;iiu>-t >lates in area in the 
I'nion. has pro<luced a larije share of men who have jjained 
prominence in atYairs of the coinUry. and. when we follow the 
mij^ration west, it is foiuid the important public improvements 
liave beeii promote<l and ijuided by men from this state. .\ot- 
.ibly northeastern Pennsylvania, the minini;. iron, and steel 
interests, and the buildiiiij of railroads, all have had the benefit 
of capital and of the e\|)erience of men from the eastern states. 
.\ family of three or four sons, by name of Phelps, from Sims- 
bury. Coim.. were early in that section: one. lohn Jay Phelps, 
who. in 1 1^40 or earlier, assr-eiated with .\mos k. l-jio. formerly 
from Simsbury. or near tlu re. was amonsr the noted wholesale 
dryijoods merchants of the city of New York. Mr. Phelps 
reiirintj as early as 1S45. with William K. Dodcje and others, 
the late Moses Taylor, and the Scrantons from Connecticut : 
Col. ( leorvje SeMon. Joseph II. and Mr. William Henry, were 
the men who develop! d the iron. >;teel. an<l coal interests al>out 
Scranton, Pa., and built the Lackawamia & Western Railroad. 

Later comes J. P. Mortjan.. born in Hartford, who in the 
last two decades has led in many financial undertakinjjs of note 
as projector and underwriter, and the formation of a trust with 
capital rtf a billion or two dollars seems of small account to 
him. I suppose if some of his friends in the IJritish Islands 
should supffest the combination of a trust including; the busi- 
ness of thom- islands and Continental Europe, .\sia. and .Africa. 
b<' wotdd un<lertake to und<ru liti' thi- ii.tiininv it' tin \ \\..n!.l 
< Nclude the Turkish Kmpir« 

It has been intimated in the pa>t ih.ii .\I.ii Iboi. .ui:h \\a> Ik- 
comintj a slow town, but surely if any such sentiment has gone 
abro.id it will s«x>n be correcte<l. for here this day the good 
people are celebrating the one hun»lre<lth anniversary of the 
' r.-^ iiii/ation of tlv '"UP. ■> »"" v« . . L: ill. -1,1 .,f tliit u.-t.rn 



86 MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 

city, Chicago, which is counted the fast city of the repubhc, 
and whose people are now just getting together a fund of a 
hundred thousand dollars for the purpose of celebrating their 
hundredth anniversary on September ist. 

Surely the visitors and inhabitants of this town are to be 
congratulated for the bountiful care in everything pertaining 
to this anniversary, and the history that will be recorded and 
go to the generations that follow us, it is to be hoped, will be 
for the welfare of all and will be cherished bv all. 



APPENhlX. 



.fiino I\\\:^iii l\i'!;is (icorjt^ii si'citndi ilcciino-tunto. 

A I A (ilNKKAI. AsSKMItl.V HOI.DKN AT XkW HaVKN JN UlS 

Majkstiks Kngi.ish 0)i.(iNY OF Connecticut in N'kw 
England in A.mi.rua. (tN tiik sk.conp Thurshav of 

OcT«)nKK. (r.KING Till-: lOTH DAY OF SAID MONTH.) AND 
CONTINIKI) I5V SKVKRAI. ADJOIKN M KNTS UNTIL TIIK 25TH 

i>\v (»K Tin; SAMK MoNiii. Annoquf. Domini 1745. the 
I (H.i.ou im; Ivksoi.ution was i'asskd: 

I poll tin- UK-morial of Samuel lUitl, Abraham SkiniUT and 
sundry (^lur persons, of wliom some live towards the south- 
eastern parts of the parish of I*!astherry. some on the western 
parts of Hebron, and others on some parts of the first and 
third societies in Colchester nearest adjoyninji^ to said parts of 
luistberry and Hebron, representinj^ that it is convenient and 
needful for them to be united together so as to become a dis- 
tinct parisli. an<l prayintj a committee {n view and rep<irt their 
circumstances. &c. : 

Resolved by this Assembly, that R(»jjer W'olcott junr. Msijr. 
Mr. Daniel liissell. of Windsor, and Mr. llezekiah May. of 
Weatlursfield. be and they hereby are appointed, imjxiwered 
and directed, to re|)air to and upon the places situated as al>>ve- 
saitl and inhabited by the memtirialists. and pive leR:aI notice to 
all persons concerned. an«l upon <lue hearint: all parties or per- 
sons therein interested, and eiu|uiry into tlieir circumstances, 
to make report (tn the premises (•» this .Assembly at their .ses- 
sions at Hartford in May next. 

Colonial Records of Connecticut. Vol. IX. Page 180. 



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88 marlborough centennial. 

At a General Assembly holden at Hartford in the 
County of Hartford in His Majesties English Col- 
ony OF Connecticut in New England in America, on 
the second Thursday of May, being the 14TH day of 

said MONTH, and CONTINUED BY SEVERAL ADJOURNMENTS 
UNTIL THE 5TH DAY OF JUNE NEXT FOLLOWING, AnNO 

Regni Regis Georgii Secundi Magn.e Britanni.i5 &c. 
ViGESSiMO, Annooue Domini 1747, the following 
Resolution was passed : 

Upon the memorial of Epaphras Lord, Esqr, William Duel 
and others, representing that they belonged some to the first 
society in Colchester, some within the town of Hebron, some 
within the second society in Glassenbury, and some of them 
within the third society in said Colchester, and that they lived 
at a great distance from the several places of publick worship 
where they respectively belong ; and praying to be made a dis- 
tinct ecclesiastical society, and to have bounds and limits 
according to a certain plan and report of Messrs. Roger Wol- 
cott junr, Esqr, Mr. Daniel Bissell and Hezekiah Alay, who 
were appointed a committee to view the circumstances of the 
memorialists. &c. ; which bounds and limits are as follows, z/^; 
Beginning at the northeast corner of Midletown bounds, and 
from thence a line drawn northerly to the northwest corner of 
David Dickinson's land in Eastberry, and from thence eastward 
to the northwest corner of a lot of land on which Daniel Cham- 
berlain's barn stands, and from thence to run near east on the 
north side of said Chamberlain's land until it meet with Hebron 
west line, and from thence southerly to the northwest corner 
of a farm of land on which the widow Lucy Talcott now dwells, 
and from thence a straight line to the road at Daniel Root's, 
and from thence on a straight line to the riding place over Fawn 
Brook, being at the northeast corner of the land of Joseph 
Phelps junr, and from thence southerly as the brook runs until 
it comes to the riding place passing from Joseph Kellogg's 
over said brook to the Pine Hill, and from thence a straight 
line to Mr. John Adams's farm to the southeast corner by the 
country road, including said farm, and from the most southerl} 
part of said farm a west line to Midletown east bounds, then 



APPENDIX. 89 

nortlurly hy Midlctown line to tin- first-nicntionc<l corner: 
RosolviM hy this AsM'ml)Iy. that thi- imnioriahsts aiul all such 
as do or shall livi- within tlu- IkhjikIs anti limits al)ovc tlcscrilK-d 
shall Ik- a distinct ecclesiastical society, with powers and privi- 
lii,'is as otiur ecclesiastical siK'ieties in this Colony are invested 
with, and tin- same shall be known and distinj^uished by the 
name of MarllKirongh. An<l all those inhabitants within the 
aforesaid limits that are within the bounds of F-'astlniry shall 
contribute their several j)roportii»ns of parish charjj^es in said 
Rastbury for the space of four years next ensuing. 

Colonial Records of Connecticut, ij^-ij^o, I'ol. IX, 
Pluses ^03-304- 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Congregational Church Centennial Day, . . Facing p. 7 

Rev. Joel Ives, " p. ii 

First and Second Petitions for Incorporation of 

Ecclesiastical Society, " P- I5 

Plan of Marlboro.ugh Society as Incorporated in 

1747, 

Speakers' Centennial Day, 

Marlborough Inn or Tavern, 

Diagram Showing the Evolution of the Town of 

Marlborough, 

Portrait Hon. John Bigelow, 

PORTRAIT Hon. Wm. H. Richmond, .... 
Ancient Map of Hebron, 



p- 


17 


p- 


25 


p- 


27 


p- 


47 


p- 


73 


p- 


81 


p- 


87 



INbLX. 



Adams. John, 35, 46, S8. 
Address, Hon. John IJigclow, 7.V 

Historical, 26. 

\V. H. Richmond, 80. 
Alhiston, Rev. Roger. 33. 
Allen. Rev. A. M.. XV 

Isaac. 30. 

Michael. 51. 
Andover. Mass., 36. 
Antiques. Display of. 25. 
Appendix. 87. 

Hailey. Joshua. 80. 

Nathaniel. So. 

Simon. 4S. 
I'.aplists. iJ. XV 
llarlHiur's History of G-iMi. ,, 
I'.arnes, Rev. Allen, -i^. 
Hath. Kng., 39. 
Hell. Rev. Hiram. 19, 32. 59. 63. 

Rev. James, 2\. 
Rent ley. Rev. L. D . XV 
Heihlehem. Conn.. \2 
Bigelow. Asa. XI. 74 

David. 34. 35. 74 

David S.. 9. 65. 67. 
.•\ddress by. 65. 

Krastus. 74. 

Isaac, 74. 

I Ion John. 7, 9. 25 
Introduction of. 71 
.\ddress of. 73. 

John D . 74. 
Rissell. Daniel. 87. 88 

I" Clarence. 9. 5^ 

Rev Oscar. Ji 
HIack Ledge River. 49 



Daniel. .^5. 50. 

Kzra. XV 
Hoardman. Sarah. I'. M.. 31. 
Holies. Horatio. 19. io. 
Hoston, 51. 
Houndarics. 46. 
Hrainard, A. & S . _'o 

Caleb. 4.S. 
P.rattle. William, 51 
Hrink. Capt. Andrew. 75. 
P.ristol. Conn.. 57. 
Hristol. X. Y.. 75. 78. 
Huckinghatn. Gov.. 45. 
HiuII. Col. Elisha. jo. J7. ;*',. .^i. Sj 
P. M., 31 
Tavern. 29. 

(ien Enos H., *o, 56, 81, 8j. 
V. M.. 31. 

Isaac B.. 51. 

Mary. P. M.. 31. 

Samuel. 87. 

Theron H.. 7. 

William. 14. 15. 20. 35. 88. 
Building Committee for Meeting 

House. 17. 
Bulckly. Mr.. 50. 
Bulkeley. Rev. John. TiJ 

Rev. Peter. 37. 
Burtlen. Jeremiah, x^ 
Burr, N'ice-Pres't. .V|. 
Burrows. Rev. Daniel. 33, 
H"-— I' ' "• 



CamiTKli;*', 51 
Carrier. 35. 

.\ndrew. j6 



92 



MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 



Carrier, Richard, 36. 

Thomas, 21. 

Thos. and family, 36. 
Carter, Charles, 32. 

Ezra. 2,2. 35. 
Case, Rev. Wm., 19. 
Celebration, Account of, 24. 
Chamberlain, Daniel, 46, 88. 
Champion, Epaphroditus, 27. 
Chase, Rev. Moses, 33. 
Cheney Bros., 10. 
Cheney Mfg. Co., 84. 
Chesebrough, Rev. Dr., 11. 
Chester, 18. 
Chicopee, Mass., 62. 
Churches, 32, 33, 36. 
.Church Building. 19, 60. 

Cost of, 63. 

F'und, 19. 

]\Iembership, 19. 

Organization completed, 17. 
Citizens, Meeting of, 7. 
Civil War, 43. 

Colchester, 14, 15, 26. 27, 31, 34, 
35, 2,^. ?>7^ 41. 46, 48, 49, 
. 51, 52, S3, 57, 74, 87, 88. 
Colebrook, Conn., 19, 59. 
Collins, Dr. Lewis, 31. 

Rev. L. C, 22. 
Colt, Samuel, 58. 
Columbia, 21. 
Concord, Mass.. 37. 
Cone, Rev. Solomon, 74. 
Cooper, Rev. John, 2>i- 
Cotton Mills, 30, 81. 
Curtis, Reuben, 32. 

Dana, Rev. Sylvester, 19. 
Dark Hollow, 50, 54. 
Day, Judge Asa, 31. 

Asa, P. M., 31. 

Thomas, 49. 
Deacons, 20, 21. 
Dean Farm, 81. 
Dean, Rev. Sidney, 33. 
DedTcation, Church, 20. 
Devizes, Eng., 39. 



Dewey, .\dmiral, 41. 

John. 51. 

Oliver, i^. 

Roger, 51. 

Capt. Simeon, 41. 
Dibell, Hen, 49. 
Dickinson, David, 14, 46, 88. 

Seth, 2i- 
Dodge, Wm. E., 85. 
Dow, Rev. Lorenzo, 33. ^ 

Duke of Marlborough, 31. 
Dunham, Nathaniel, 49. 

Sylvester C, 33. 
Dunning, Rev. Benj., 18. 

Eastbury, 14, 15, 16, t,t„ 46. 87, 88 

89. 
East Canaan, 21. 
East Haddam, 27. 

Probate District, 27, 31. 
East Hampton, 80. 
East Hartford, 80. 
Ela, Rev. Benj., 19. 
Eno, Amos R., 85. 
Episcopalians, 32. 
Evolution of Town, 47. 

Falls Village, 21. 
Fawn Brook, 46, 49, 88. 
Fielding, Samuel, 52. 
Finley, David, 28. 

Harry, 48. 

John, 48. 

Samuel, 36. 

Wm., 19, 20. 
Fiske, Rev. Warren, 21. 
Fitch, Col. Thomas, 51. 
Foote, .A.nn, 80. 

Asa, 17, 22. 

Dr., 31- 

Judge George, 31. 

Joel, 26, 30, 31, 80, 81. 

Nathaniel, 80. 
Fox Road, old, 50. 
Fuller, Rev. George P., 7, 10, 21. 

John H., 9, 41. 
Fulling Mills, 30. 



INDEX. 



93 



Fulton. Robert, 76. 77. 

Gardner, Rev. Roht. I), 10 

(ienesco, N. Y.. .^6. 

Gilead. 5J. 54 

Gillette. .Aaron. 3_». 

Glastonbury. 14. j6. 27, 3.V 34. 41, 

4(». 4S. 50. 51. «« 
Goodrich. Capt. I-lphraiin, 50. 51 
G.)od Will Club. J5. 
Cioodwin. Elder \Vm., 37. 
(iould. Rev. J. B.. 3.V 
Rev. Vincent. 19. 
Great River. 51. 
Griffin, Rev. Mr.. 33. 
(irist Mills. 30. 
Guilfor<l. fK). 
Guiniery. 30. .\x. St 

Hall. Mary. 7. ',. -•<. 
Address. 26. 
Ilaiuia. Rev. Cbas. \V.. 21. 
Hart. Rev. Sanuiel. 9. 25, 68. 

.Address. 6S. 
Hartford, ii, 12. 51. fx). 80. 
County, 48. 
Couraiit, 9. J4. 
Hartford and Xew London Coun- 
try Ro.id, 50. 
Hartford and New London Turn- 
pike. 54. 57. 
Hartford I'iincs. 24. 
Harvey. Rev. JasjKr P.. 21. 

ll.l.r.,ii, 14, 15. 2(\ 27, 20. i2, i^. 

41. 4^ 47. 48. 49. 50. 5'. 

5.1. 87. 88. 
Hebron Choir. 10. 
Henip-tead. Rev. John. 19 
Henry. Jos. H. an«l \Vm . 85 
Hills. Gicster. 48. 
Historical .Vfldress, 26. 
Historical Sermon, 11. 
History. Military. 41 
Holmes. Rev. Henry, ji 
Home Mi5isionary Society, ij. jo. 
H<x>kcr. Rev. Thos., 80. 
Hosford, Daniel, 31. 35, 51. 



Hosnier. Mrs. Patience Lord. 19. 
Hound, Town, 35. 
Hubbard, Capt. David, 51. 
HutuinRtr)n, Rev. Mr., 18, 19 
Hurst. Rev. Wm.. 33. 
Huxford, John, 48. 

Incorporation, Society, 35, 46. 

Town, 26, 46. 
Indians, 35. 
Ingraham. Elias, 57. 

Joseph, 30. 
Inventions. Jona. KiiiK>rii. jo 
I sham, Chas. and Giles, 75. 

Lucy. 74. 

Samuel. 75. 
Ives, Rev. Joel S,. 9. 10. it. 
Si r:n.'ii. i I 



JefTersoii. President, 33. 
Jenkyns. Rev. Klwrn H.. 21. 
Jeremy's River, 49. 
Jones, Eli, 32. 

Gideon, Jr., 32. 

John S., 37. 

Samuel I'.. 33, 48. 
Jones Street, 81. 
Joshua, Sachem. 35, 51. 

Kellogg. David, 81. 

Elijah, 27. 

Joseph, 20, 46, 88. 

.Martin. 32. 

Moses. Jr., 32. 

Moses. 52. 
Kennett River, Eng.. 39. 
Kill)orn. David. 2S. 

David. IV M . 31 

Jonathan. 30, 57. 
Epitaph, 31. 
Inventions. 30. 
Kingsbury. Dr Royal, 31. 
Kmgs of England. 39. 
Kneeland. Benjamin. 14. 

Benjamin. Jr., 14. 

David. j6. 



94 



MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 



Kneeland, Eleazer, 30. 

Dr. Hez., 31. 

John, 14. 

Joseph, 14, 36. 
Kyle, Rev. R. J., 10. 

Lebanon, 29, 34, 59. 

Lee, Rev. Dr. Chauncey, 19, 32, 59, 

60. 
Lefifingwell, Rev. [Morrison, ^S- 
Legacies, 19. 
Lewis, Rev. Thomas, 19. 
Lexington Alarm, 41. 
Livesey, Rev. Wm., 2i3- 
Livingston, Chancellor, 76. 
London, England, 39. 
Long Island, 33. 
Lord, Elisha, s~- 

Epaphras, 14, 28, 35, 37. 

Epaphras, Jr., 88. 

George, 19. 

Ichabod, 14, 35, 37. 

Richard, 37. 

Judge Sherman C, 31, 64. 

Capt. Theodore, 20. 

Thomas, 37. 
Louisburg, Capture of, 53. 
Loveland, Robert, 30. 

Samuel, 14, 35. 

Thomas, 21. 

Maiden, N. Y., 74- 
Manufacturing Co., ^Marlborough, 
29, 30. 

Union, 29, 30, 33. 
Marlborough College, Eng., 39. 

Duke of, 31. 

Eng., 38. 

Manufacturing Co., 29, 30. 

Mass., 34, 40. 
jMarriage, Intentions of, 60. 
Mason, Rev. Mr., 11, 17. 
Massachusetts, 12, 16, 21. 
May, Hezekiah, 87, 88. 
McCray, Dr. Eleazer, 31. 
McGonigal, Rev. Robt., 33. 
Mcintosh, Dr. Harrison, 31. 



Mcintosh, Dr. Luicus W., 31. 
Meeting of Citizens, 7. 
Meeting House, Location Estab- 
lished, 16. 

Built, 17. 

Finished, 18. 

Torn Down, 20. 
Meriden, Conn., 8r. 
Merritt, Rev. Time, 33. 
Methodists, 33. 
Mexican War, 43. 
Middle Haddam, 82. 
Middletown, 18, 46, 48, 59, 69, 88, 

89. 
Milford, II. 
Military History, 41. 
Militia, 56. 

Miller, Capt. Daniel, 32. 
Millington, 16. 
Mohegans, 35. 
Monroe, President, 29, 80. 
Morgan, J. P., 85. 
Moseley, Jonathan O., 27. 
Mudge, Ebenezer, 14. 

Navy, 1812, 42. 

Civil War, 44. 
New England Primer, 64. 
New Hampshire, 12. 
New Haven, 11, 12, 69. 
New London, 54. 
New London County, 48. 
New Marlborough, 35. 
New York, 12. 
Niles, Nathan, 32. 
Norfolk, Conn., 61. 
Northam, Alvan, 20, 63. 

Jonathan, 21, 51. 

Oliver, 51. 
North Lyme, 18. 
Norton, Rev. Jno. F., 19. 
Noyes, Rev. James, 19. 

Ohio, 12. 

Ordinations, 17, 18, 19, 21. 

Oregon, 13. 

Ostrander, Rev. Dr., 78. 



INDKX. 



9S 



Owancco, 35. 
Owen, Joel, 21. 

Palmer, Dr., 31. 

Parker, Charles, 81. 

Pensioners, Revolutionary. 4-!. 

Pennsylvania, 83. 

Perrin, Zachariah. 41. 

Petitions to Gen. Ass., 14, 15, 16, 

17. 26. ,^7. 
Phelps. Aaron, X'i- 

Pavid. 64. 

John Jay, 85. 

Joseph. Jr.. 46. 88. 

Noah, 51. 

Oliver, x^- 

Wni.. JO, 63. 
Physicians. 31. 
Pike. Rev. Alphens J., 21. 
Pine Hill. 46. 
Pitkin. Joseph, 15. 
Pomperaug Valley, 12. 
Pongcronks, 35. 
Poor. State, 37. 

Town's, 36. 
Porter. Comptroller, 34. 

Dr. John H.. 31. 
post. Daniel, 33. 
Post-ofticc. First, 31. 
Postmasters, 31. 
Probate Judges, 31. 
Program, 9. 
Puinptown, 53. 

Raising of Church, 62. 
Rankin. Rev. S, \V. G.. .'i. 
Rattlesnake Rock, 49. 
Reminiscences, Hart Talcott, 53. 
Resolution Gen. Assembly, 87, 88 
Revolutionary Record, 41. 
Richmond. John. 80. 

William H.. 7. 9. 38. 71. 

William 11 . Address. 80. 

Wm Wadsworth, 80. 
Ripley. Rev David B . 19 

David n . Clerk. 30 
Robard, James, 49. 



RuUrts, M. L., 36. 
R<H)t, Daniel, 46, 88. 
EdwartI, 30, 33. 
Ross, Rev Cha> D . 21. 
Koxbury, 1 _• 

Saddlers Ordinary, 35. 
Salmon River, 80. 
Saugerties, X. Y.. 7'. 74. 75. 7^. 
Sawmill, 30. 
Saybrook, 18, 69. 

Men. 51. 

Platform. 12. 
Schools and Schoolhouscs, 31, 3J 
Scars. Rev. John. 74. 

Rachael, 80. 
Sebago, Me., 21. 
Seldon, Geo., 85. 
Sermon, Historical, 11. 
Slic|)ard. Cornelius, 21. 
Silk Manufacturing, 30. S3. 84. 
Sinisbury. Conn., 85. 
Skinner, Abraham, 14, 87. 

Dca. David, 21, 32. 35. 36. 

David, Jr.. 21. 

1. l^ird. 57. 
Smith. Dr. David, 31. 
Soldiers. Civil War. 43. 44. 

Mexican War. 43. 

Revolutionary. 41, 42. 

Spanish War, 45. 
South Canaan. 21. 
Spanish War, 1898, 45. 
S|)aulding. Dr., 31. 
Spencer. 2d. Isaac, 27. 
Stamfor<l. li. 

Slocking. Rev. Jeremiah, 33. 
Stratford, it, 12 
Strong. Ebcn. 21 

Eleazcr. 18. 

Ezra. 16. 35. 

Deacon. 55. 

Dr. Zenas, 31. 

Falcott Farm, 52 

1 alcott. Gad. 53. 

Hart, 7. 9. 53 



96 



MARLBOROUGH CENTENNIAL. 



Talcott, Capt. Moseley, 19, 20, 25. 
53. 55, 60, 63. 

Widow Lucy, 46, 88. 
Taylor, ]Moses, 85. 
Thames River, Eng., 39. 
Thanksgiving, 1705, 53. 
Tolland County, 48. 
Torbush, Rev. Henry, 33. 
Town Meeting, First, 28. 
Treasurer's Report, 8. 
Truesdale, Augustus, 20, 62, 63. 
Trumbull, Gov., 34. 

J. H., 35- 
Tuhi, 35. 
Turnpikes, 29. 
Turramuggus, 35, 38. 
Tyler, Rev. Jos. P., 19. 

Rev. Dr., 20. 

Union Manufacturing Co., 29, 30, 

33- 
Union Village, N. Y., 74. 

Vail. Rev. H. W., 21. 
Rev. Wm. F., 19. 
Vermont, 12, 74. 

Waddams, John, 14. 
Wadsworth, Prudence, 80. 

William, 80. 
Wales, 36. 
War. Civil, 43. 
War of 1812, 42. 



War, Mexican, 43. 

Revolution, 41, 42. 

Spanish. 45. 
Warner, E. C. P. M., 31. 

Harriet Buell, P. M., 31, 82. 
Washington. 13. 

Conn., 12. 

Gen. George, 29, 59. 
Waters, Dorothy, 14. 
Watertown, Mass., 34. 
Watkinson, Edward B., 19, 20, 63. 
West Brookheld, Mass., 80. 
Westchester, 14, 15, 16. 
West India Trade, 82. 
Wetherstield, 11, 50, 80. 
Wheat, John, :i:i. 
Whight, Joseph, 14. 
Williams, Weeks, 32. 
Wilson, Mrs. Eliz. Crow Warren, 

37- 
Wiltshire, Eng., 38. 
Windsor, 11. 

Windsor Locks Canal, 57. 
Witch, Hanging for, ^,6. 
Wolcott, Roger, Jr., 87, 88. 
Wood, Jonathan N., 50, 51. 
Woodbridge, Mrs. Abigail Lord, 

37- 
Rev. Timo., 31, ^J. 
Woodbury, 12. 

Woodruff, Rev. Ephraim, 19. 
Woodward, Madison, 20. 
Workhouse, 37. 
Wyllys, Sec, 34. 



J^^ 28 mi 



